Normalcy is Overrated
by Kmb515
Summary: April O'Neil longs for her old life as a normal teenager. Instead she's been thrust into a life of mutants, ninjas, and aliens. When the foot puts a new plan in motion, she'll have to learn to accept her reality, and make some tough choices along the way. A slow build Apriltello Fic, that explores April's journey of acceptance and her inner turmoil over her feelings for Donnie.
1. Falling

_My life used to be so normal. _

This was the dominant thought running through April's mind as she raced across the New York City rooftops. As she took a flying leap from one fire escape to another, she couldn't help but think back to how crazy her life had become.

_I used to be a normal sixteen year old. School, homework, boys, and zits were my biggest problems._

She winced as she made an awkward landing, scraping her shins along the tar roof. Just thinking about the bruises she was going to have in the morning made her want to cry.

_Suck it up O'Neil, you're falling behind._

This is what her life had become. In one night over a year ago her entire understanding of the world had been flipped upside down.

The normal teenager had been replaced by a kunoichi in training, worried about mutants, alien invasions, robots, and homicidal maniacs. Not to mention the fact that her best friends in the world were four mutant ninja turtles, her dad was a giant mutant bat loose in the city, her best human friend was a vigilante with a hockey stick, and her sensei was a giant talking rat.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that recently she found out she's also a half alien half human mutant hybrid who is the main key to an alien invasion.

She doesn't like to think about that one too much.

_Oh how I would love to be giggling over boys and make up again_…

April increased her speed as she prepared to leap an alleyway ahead. She found months ago it was easiest to do this if she didn't hesitate or look down. Reaching the end of the roof, she pushed off with her knees and felt herself in the air above the alley.

It only took about a second for her to realize she wasn't going to make it to the next roof. The distance was much further than she originally gauged. Panic set in as she scrambled to grab a hold of the ledge, certain she was about to plummet to her death. She watched in what seemed like slow motion as her hand passed mere centimeters from the ledge and salvation, sealing her fate to fall.

April squeezed her eyes shut and tried to prepare for impact.

It never came.

She felt a strong hand grab her forearm, halting her descent. Cracking an eye open, she released the breath she was holding, and found herself dangling thirty feet above the ground. Looking up towards her savior April was not surprised at all to see a familiar purple clad turtle.

Donatello was hanging by the ledge of the roof by one arm, supporting her with the other. He must have literally thrown himself over the ledge to catch her. He looked down at her and smiled his gap toothed grin.

"Don't worry April, I got you." He said calmly, like they both didn't just almost die.

April could see the strain on his face and in his muscles, supporting both their weights by one arm. With an impressive showing of strength, Donnie slowly pulled her up so she was even with his body. Instinctively, with something to finally hold onto, April latched her arms around his neck, making the ninja's face blush at the contact.

A few seconds passed, and Donnie just hung there, frozen due to their current proximity. April would have found it funny if they weren't still dangling three stories above the ground.

"Um, Donnie?" She asked, giving him a little squeeze.

Her voice seemed to snap him out of his trance. "Uh…y-yeah April?"

"Not that this isn't fun and all, but wanna, you know….pull us back up?" She couldn't help but tease him a little, she knew she was safe, he would never let her fall.

"Huh?" He seemed confused, but instantly he seemed to come back to reality, the flush fading from his face. "Shell, yeah, sorry. Just hang on tight, April."

Donnie swung his other arm up to the roof edge, and easily lifted them both back up to the rooftop. Swinging his legs up onto the tar, they were once again on solid ground, making April breath a little easier.

"Sorry Donnie. I guess I misjudged the distance in that leap. I think we're going to need to start keeping a tally of all the times you need to save me." April said lightheartedly. She knew she could always rely on Donatello to come to her rescue. She loved all the turtles, but Donnie and she had something special. He was her best friend.

"You don't need to apologize, April. You know I'll always catch you." He said quietly, the flush returning to his face.

"I know I can always rely on you." She smiled and looked into his deep brown eyes, trying to convey her gratitude. "Thank you, Donnie."

"Are we interrupting something?"

April glanced over towards the new voice, to find Leo, Raph, and Mikey standing off to the side watching them. All three had a ridiculous smirk on their face.

Confused about their amusement, April looked back towards Donnie to realize her hands were still around his neck, and one of his was on her waist. Realization about their position dawned on her and she jumped away from the turtle like he had burned her, warmth instantly flooding her face.

"No, no, not at all." She stammered, embarrassed by the situation. Donnie was just staring at the rooftop, obviously mortified.

"Whatever. Why did you two fall so far behind? We took out the Purple Dragons before we even realized you guys were gone." Raph's gravelly tone chimed in.

Donnie finally seemed to find his voice. "April took a fall from the roof. I was just barely able to catch her." He turned his gaze to Leo, voice starting to sound agitated. "I told you we were going too fast, and she was falling behind, she's just lucky I doubled back to check on her."

Leo seemed surprised by normally soft spoken Donnie's anger. "Hey, Don relax. She's proven time and time again she can take care of herself. I figured pushing her to keep up would be good training…"

"Good training!? She almost died, Leo!" Donnie was starting to yell now.

"She knows the risks, she's not a child. I'll admit I made a mistake by leaving her alone, but accidents do happen, Donnie."

Donatello was getting more and more angry. "She should never be alone, and the missions she goes on should be more carefully decided. You know she can't keep up with us, and on top of that she's a prime target for the Kraang. She should be home where she's safe."

April watched the exchange with building annoyance. Sure Donnie had just saved her (again) but that didn't give him the right to talk about her like she wasn't even here, or make decisions for her.

"Excuse me, but she is standing right here." She interjected, hands on hips, annoyance clear. "And _she _would greatly appreciate it if you boys didn't talk about me like I'm a child and an invalid." She turned to Leo. "You don't get to decide my training without running it by Master Splinter or me, got that? And I appreciate it, but you need to understand I'm not built like you guys; I can't survive the same stuff. I could have died!"

Leo looked down at the ground ashamed, but didn't respond. Donnie looked on, a smug look of satisfaction on his face, which only made April more frustrated.

She turned her wrath on Donnie, poking her finger into his plastron. "And you don't get to make decisions for me! I am not some china doll that needs to be locked away. I want to get stronger and become a better kunoichi, and that means I need to train. Sure maybe jumping thirty foot alleys maybe isn't where I should be right now, but I get to make that call…not you. Stay out of it, Donnie!"

She finished her rant, and looked at the purple and blue brothers. Both looked berated, especially Donatello. Neither offered any kind of rebuttal.

"Now if you excuse me, I'm going home." April turned and abruptly started walking away, only to be halted by a very confused Michelangelo in her path.

"Move, Mikey!" She snapped, instantly regretting it, when a devastated look made it onto his face.

His voice was quiet lacking his carefree tone. "I know you're mad, but after what happened I'm going to walk you home, we can't have you falling off another roof."

She immediately opened her mouth to object, but thought better of it. He didn't do anything wrong, and she had no ill feelings towards him, and (Surprisingly) he did have a point. In her current state she wouldn't be surprised if she just walked off a roof.

"Sure, Mikey. Sorry I snapped at you." She tried to give him her best apologetic smile, which he returned with his innocent grin.

The pair headed away from the others, leaving behind a very confused Raphael, a torn Leonardo, and a devastated Donatello.

Mikey and April continued walking in silence, which was very uncharacteristic of the crazy, fun loving, goofball. Then again, he was never one to be comfortable with confrontation. He's usually the one to break the mood with a joke, or transfer his brothers' fury onto himself with a stupid prank. He probably doesn't have to deal with the aftermath of a fight too often, especially one he doesn't understand completely.

They were almost to her building when he finally spoke up. "Are you going to leave us again now?"

April abruptly stopped moving and stared at the orange clad turtle. "What?"

"Like last time, after your dad turned into Kirby Bat, you left for a long time…"

Suddenly, it all made sense to April. Mikey was scared she was going to cut ties with them again, like she did after her father was mutated. That's why he was so worried.

_Oh poor, sweet, innocent, Mikey…_

April put her hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "I'm not going anywhere, Mikey. I just got a little ticked off at Donnie and Leo. Don't worry."

Mikey instantly perked up at her statement. "Oh Good, because last time you left Donnie was impossible! He was mega depressed and made all of our lives hell. Seriously bad vibes in the lair. Not to mention you're my favorite human friend…and you bring us pizza!"

April couldn't help it, she started to giggle at his excitement and usual animation. Most of the time, Mikey was like a breath of fresh air.

When they arrived at April's fire escape, she unlatched the window and stepped inside, turning back to Mikey.

"I'll probably give the babies a few days to stew in what I said before I show up at the lair again. Do me a solid and don't tell them I'm really not that mad. It'll make them think about what they've done harder." She grinned evily.

Mikey let out a bark of laughter at deceiving his brothers. "Sure thing, April. Just when you do show up you know what to bring me." He winked at her.

"Let me guess….pizza?"

"Extra anchovies!" He said excitedly, practically drooling at the thought. April made a gagging sound, and laughed.

"Only for my favorite nun chuku wielding turtle." April held out her fist. He smiled and bumped her fist with his own larger one. "Thanks for walking me home, Mikey. I'll see you in a few days."

April went to close her window, but was stopped by a large green hand in the sill. She looked up at Mikey expectantly.

"April, just so you know, Donnie's just worried about you. The times we almost lost you drove him crazy, and he's just scared it's going to happen again. Go easy on the turtle, the heart's a soft muscle…"

With that last thought he leaped away from the window and into the night, leaving April feeling confused and oddly guilty.

As April got ready for bed she couldn't help but replay what Mikey said over and over in her mind. She'd always known that all Donnie was concerned about was her safety. He's always there to catch her when she falls, hold her when she cries, and listen when she vents. Donnie is one of the most important people in her life.

She doesn't mean to be so hard on him, but she's not used to being coddled the way he does. She's been pretty self sufficient and independent her whole life, and likes it that way. His constant hovering can be a little suffocating.

At the same time, she realized she's being a little hypocritical. She loves him being there for her, but hates when he's there too much. It's kind of a lose/lose scenario.

Of course she's aware of the crush he has on her. It would be impossible for her not be aware of it, with all the times he's slipped and the way he can barely talk to her without stuttering and blushing. In the beginning she just thought it was a phase that would pass (with her being the only girl he'd ever met and all), but as time went on it was clear he seems to have genuine feelings for her. April doesn't know how to handle this situation though, so she just completely ignores it.

Curled up in her comfy purple comforter, April thinks about Donnie's crush for the first time in forever. He's her best friend, and quite honestly a great guy, but April doesn't know if she could ever have romantic feelings for him. He's a turtle, a humanoid turtle, true, but still a turtle. It goes against everything she knows.

She's been so scared of hurting Donnie though, that she has just been blatantly avoiding the issue of his feelings. Hoping it'll just go away, even though she's well aware it won't.

Plus, there's Casey Jones, and she knows for a fact she has a bit of crush on him.

_Donnie's probably worried sick in the lair right now._

April pulled the covers over her head and let out a loud sigh of exasperation, trying to hide from her guilt.

Mind made up, she reaches for her T-Phone, planning on sending her favorite turtle a quick apology text to ease his mind.

Just as she picks it up, it chirps in her hand, signaling she has a message. Expecting to see Donnie on her screen, she's surprised to see a picture of Casey. He had texted her.

_Hey, Red. You still awake?_

A smile makes its way to her face, and she types out a reply.

_Maybe. Why does the infamous Casey Jones want to know? :)_

As she hits send, all thoughts of an apology message are forgotten.


	2. Apologies

April walked the halls of her high school, Casey and Irma by her side. The two were bickering about something and she was beginning to zone out.

This was when April felt the most normal. Here at school there were no mutants, no aliens, and no ninjas. Unless you count that one time the Kraang tried to abduct her from the school with the crazy old lady robot, this was the most normal place in her life, and she savored every moment of it.

It was just so bizarre looking around and seeing all these teenagers, all roughly her age, all completely ignorant about what goes on in the world around them (except Casey of course). None of them have any idea how many times the turtles had saves their lives, and none had any idea the turtles even existed.

The thought made April kind of sad. None of these people would ever thank the turtles, none of them would ever learn how funny Mikey is, or witness Raph's mad fighting skills, or acknowledge Leonardo as the hero he is. None of them would ever know how brilliant Donnie is, or get to use any of his inventions.

Upon thinking of the scientist she pulled out her T-Phone and brought up her contact picture of him. The picture always made her smile. He looked so serious and angry. The truth was, when she snapped the picture, Mikey was teasing him about giving her a T-Phone, calling her his girlfriend. Donnie got mad right when she took the picture, resulting in the out of character shot. She loved it and refused to take another one.

"Hey Earth to Red! April?"

Casey's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, she got the impression he had been calling her name a few times. "Huh? Sorry? What were you saying?"

"Someone's a major space cadet today. I asked you if you wanted to get pizza after school today." Casey said nonchalantly, like he really didn't care if she said yes or not.

She smiled at the idea. Going to go get pizza was their code for going to see the turtles. She hadn't seen them since the fight, and it had been five days. She had meant to go yesterday after school, but she had a major assignment, and didn't get the chance.

"Yes Casey, I'd love to go get some pizza."

* * *

After school April met Casey and the pair began the journey to their favored manhole cover.

Casey was the first to break the silence. "So I heard there was some kind of a fight between you and gap tooth?"

"You know it _is _a little weird that you call him that, considering what you're missing like 3 teeth?" April said defensively. "And let me guess, you talked to Raph?"

Casey shrugged off the tooth comment in typical Casey Jones manor, and answered. "Yeah, he was worried about his bro, and wanted to know if I knew anything. I told him I'd get back to him. So what happened?"

"It was stupid actually, a whole bunch of overreactions. I probably should have made it right already…"

"Eh don't worry Red, you know the guys don't hold grudges." Casey said cheerfully.

"I know." She said somewhat uncertain.

They reached the manhole cover, Casey lifted the lid and jumped down into the darkness.

"Doesn't mean I don't feel awful about it." She muttered once Casey was out of earshot. April climbed into the hole and slid the cover back in place.

Once they reached the turnstiles at the entrance of the lair, April was surprised to find only Raphael in the main room. He seemed to be locked in a life or death battle with the pinball machine, so April was reluctant to interrupt.

Casey had no such qualms. He ran up and put Raph in a headlock, earning a surprised yelp from the tough turtle.

"Casey, you ass! I was about the make the high score!" Raph screamed, and easily flipped Casey over his shell slamming him into the ground with a loud thud.

He laid on the ground dazed for a few seconds.

"Good one Raph." He choked out.

"Serves you right." Raph chuckled.

He spotted April lurking in the entrance way and a smirk made its way to his face. "Well, well, well look who decided to show up today. Hey there April. Must say, I'm a big fan of how you put Leo in his place that night. Bravo, Ape."

She rolled her eyes. "Hey Raph. Where is everyone?"

"Mikey's in the kitchen doing god knows what, Leo's in the dojo with Master Splinter, and you know where Don is."

Casey began to stand up, but before he could regain his bearings Raph was in motion and tackled him back to the ground. In a matter of seconds the two were in an all out wrestling match in the middle of the lair.

"Ugh, Boys.." April laughed at their antics and went to go see the others. First stop was the kitchen and Mikey.

The youngest brother was digging in the fridge when April entered the kitchen. "Hey, Mikey!"

Upon hearing her voice he immediately perked up and tackled her in a huge hug. "April! You're just in time I'm making my pizza noodle soup!" He exclaimed while releasing her.

April tried to hide her disgust at the thought of his soup, and instead smiled at him and said, "That's too bad Mikey because I recall telling someone that I owe him a pizza, with extra anchovies."

Mikey's face lit up into his typical five year old excitement at the news. "Really?! Where is it?"

"On its way, Casey'll go up and get it."

"You're the best April!" He hugged her again for good measure.

"Thanks, Mike. Now how are Leo and Donnie?" She asked seriously.

"Leo's fine, probably meditating with sensei right now. Don hasn't really come out of his lab the last few days though…"

April could tell the young turtle was worried about his brother. She sighed and decided he'd be her next visit.

"I guess I should go talk to him. Go tell Casey he should go get the pizza."

Mikey immediately ran out of the kitchen, a ball of excitement. April was glad she chose to visit him first. He always lightened the mood.

On her way to Donnie's lab April took a quick peek in the dojo and saw Leo and Splinter were indeed meditating. Not wanting to disturb them, she moved on to the door of the lab.

Weirdly, she began to feel nervous at the thought of seeing Donnie. She couldn't think of any reason he would be mad at her or turn her away, yet she was still afraid that he would. April knew that he was the one she hurt the most that night on the rooftop, and right after he saved her life too.

_Great now I feel guilty…_

Reaching out her hand April did something she had never done before, she knocked. Usually she just waltzes right in to be enthusiastically greeted by the adorable gap tooth grin. This time she didn't know if she'd be welcome.

She kept trying to tell herself she was being ridiculous. This was Donnie! She had nothing to worry about…

There was no answer to her knock, so she reached out and tried again, a little louder. Still no response.

A little worried, April opened the door and stuck her head in. There were no sounds coming from the lab, which was very strange. Usually, there's hammering, welding, music, or at least Donnie muttering to himself.

This time there was only silence.

"Donnie?" She called into the space.

No answer.

April entered the lab and began her search for the turtle.

She didn't have to look far.

Donatello was asleep at his desk. He had his head down resting on his forearms, mouth slightly open, snoring softly. It was honestly quite adorable.

April smiled softly at the picture before her. She had rarely ever seen Donnie sleep, he was a known insomniac, and would always stay up well into the night working on his projects. He must have truly been pushing himself hard to have ended up falling asleep here.

She went over to the cot in the corner of the lab (where she had fallen asleep many times in the past) and picked up a small yellow blanket she had left there.

Going over to the sleeping ninja she noticed something laying on the desk in front of him, his fingers touching it, like he held it before he fell asleep. Looking closer, she realized it was a picture of her and Donatello. She remembered the picture, she was on a swing and he was pushing her.

They both looked really happy.

Seeing that picture and how important it obviously was to Donnie, made her stomach do a little flip. She felt even guiltier about how much she probably made him worry all the time.

She placed her yellow blanket over the exhausted ninja's shoulders, as lightly as possible, determined not to wake him up. Happy with the blanket coverage, she returned her attention to his desk. It was covered with papers, all filled with his illegible scrawl. She knew it was all work he was doing on finding a retro mutagen, to cure her father. He was pushing himself this hard for her.

Looking back at the sleeping turtle she watched his shell rise and fall with each breath for what seemed like hours. He was definitely an amazing being, with so much intelligence and strength wrapped up in one body. He was truly incredible. She doesn't know why, but suddenly she had the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch him. Her hand was halfway towards his face when she realized what she was doing and snatched it back.

Freaked out by her unconscious movement, she turned abruptly, essentially running out of the lab.

April didn't get ten steps before she heard a groggy voice behind her. "April?"

Trapped, April turned to face the now awake Donnie. "Hey Donnie, sorry I woke you." She said staring at a very interesting spot on the wall to her left.

She heard the familiar sound of his chair scraping across the floor and finally looked at him. Stretching his arms above his head and yawning he stood to his full height, easily a whole head taller than her. He pulled the blanket off him and stared at it confused for a few seconds before a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"That's okay. I shouldn't have been sleeping anyway. I have too much to do, you know, working on that retro mutagen."

"You need to sleep Donnie." She said suddenly worried.

He turned away from her, obviously not wanting to get into another argument.

"I'll sleep once I've turned your father back to normal." He said this so quietly April could barely make it out.

"Donnie, you don't need to kill yourself trying to do that for me. You're no good to anyone, including me, exhausted." She approached him and placed her hand on his arm. "I know you're going to cure my father, if anyone can, you can."

Donnie's breath hitched and he lifted his head to meet April's eyes. They stared at each other in silence for what seemed to be eternity, both not knowing what to say, and not really needing to say anything.

"I'm sorry." They both finally said simultaneously.

April's eyes widened at Donnie's apology, and by the look on his face he seemed just as surprised by hers.

"You don't have to be sorry, Donnie. I know you were just worried about me."

"Yeah, but I never should have tried to control you like that. You're right, you can take care of yourself...well most of the time."

April stared at him in disbelief. "Donnie I fell off a building…I think that's the definition of not being able to take care of myself."

He chuckled a little at her joke. "Okay, okay, but I was still overreacting. Why are you sorry?"

April looked away from the curious turtle, a slight blush coming over her cheeks. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. To be honest I was a bitch." Donnie looked as if he was about to object, but she stopped him with a raised hand. "Don't defend me; I was a major drama queen. I think I was just embarrassed I needed rescuing again and I took it out on you and Leo. I just hate being so weak compared to you guys."

A few seconds ticked by in silence and April couldn't stand it. She still hadn't looked at him since her confession, so when a big green hand appeared in her vision she startled.

Donnie lightly took her chin and turned her head to face him, forcing eye contact. The action greatly surprised April. He is never the first to initiate any kind of physical contact, he is usually way too nervous to even attempt it. Seeing his face, April let out a small gasp at the resolve in his features. When he spoke it was calm and steady, absolutely no waver in his voice.

"You listen to me April O'Neil because I am only going to say this once. You are not weak. Inexperienced, maybe; but definitely not weak. I have seen you take on aliens, robots, alien robots, mutants, and even Karai. No weak person can do that and walk away, but you did. Every day you train with sensei you get stronger and exponentially better. I have no doubt that pretty soon you're going to be running circles around us. You are the strongest person I know. Until that day, I will always be here to save you if you need me."

Throughout Donnie's speech tears started to pool in April's eyes, threatening to spill out. She stared at him speechless, unsure how to respond. No one had ever said anything remotely as flattering or heartwarming to her before.

Instead of saying something stupid and ruining the moment, April merely raised her hand to cover Donnie's still on her face. She hoped that movement conveyed her feelings well enough. The pair just stared at each other, both of their faces growing red with the magnitude of the emotions just shared.

April couldn't help but think that this was a big moment for them, that some sort of understanding was just reached. Something felt different.

"Yo April, Donnie! Pizza's Here!" Mikey's voice rang out through the lab, breaking the mood.

The two separated, there was some awkward throat clearing and fidgeting, both not knowing how to act.

"I'm going to go grab a slice before Mikey eats it all. " Donnie suddenly said, obviously trying to escape the awkwardness. "You wanna come?"

"I'll be right behind you." April replied, needing a minute to organize her thoughts.

Donnie seemed to understand her desire to be alone and merely nodded, turning to leave.

Before he could go she reached out and grabbed his big hand in her own. He tensed at the touch, but didn't turn back around.

"Thank you, Donnie. For everything." She whispered, knowing he could hear here.

He didn't reply, but he relaxed and gave her hand a small squeeze. They both let go at the same time, and Donnie continued on his way out of the lab to find his brothers. April felt a bizarre sense of lose at his sudden absence. It always felt wrong to be in Donnie's lab without Donnie.

April slowly meandered around looking at all his unfinished projects and sketches, loving the look of his messy scrawl on notes and blueprints.

She found herself back at his desk, staring at the picture of the two of them. Carefully, she picked up the frame, like it was delicate, and walked over to Donnie's picture wall. On it he had all sorts of photos framed and arranged of him and his family. Most of them were of him and his brothers doing goofy things, acting like the teenage boys that they were. All the way to the right was the empty spot for her picture.

She hung it back up on the wall where it belonged and stepped back to admire her work. It looked at home among the rest, like she belonged to this strange mutant family. Somehow, she felt like she did belong here. They were her family; an unconventional one, but still hers.

Looking at the picture of her and Donnie, she couldn't help but smile.

"You make me stronger." She whispered into the empty lab, and left to join her family.

Hopefully, there would still be a slice of pizza left for her.

* * *

A/N

Hi everyone! This is my second chapter of my TMNT story. This is the first fanfic I've ever written so I'll admit I was skeptical about even posting it. But within an hour I was getting positive feedback and was astounded by how many views it was getting this quickly. So, I decided to post a second chapter already just to wet everyone's appetite a little more.

Now a little more about this story. I am recently completely obsessed with the new 2012 TMNT show on Nickelodeon, mostly with Donatello. This story is 100% Apritello, even though at times it will seem like it is not. I'm a major fan of slow build romances so expect lots of fluff and frustration. And it's the Ninja Turtles, so of course there will be action as well. I'm a very fast writer so updates should be pretty frequent.

Anyway, thank you so much to anyone who takes time to read this! I appreciate it so much, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I like writing it!


	3. Faith

**A/N**

Wow I really want to thank everyone for the support for this story. It's only been up a day and I'm very happy with the positive response. For someone brand new to Fanfiction (like one day new), I can say you have made it a positive experience.

This chapter is super long, twice as long as the other two, but I love it a lot. I wanted to split it up, but it works better as whole, so enjoy!

Next Chapter should be up by the end of the week :)

* * *

For being in the sewers, the lair is a surprisingly cozy place. It's always so full of life and energy, and much cleaner than anyone would have guessed. Splinter and the guys had succeeded in making a home out of what they had available. It was obvious that Splinter had tried to provide his sons with whatever they needed to make their upbringing as normal as possible. The result of all their efforts was one of April's favorite places in the city.

When April had to live with the turtles for a few weeks, back when the Kraang and the Foot were after her, she complained about it a lot. Truth be told, she didn't really mind. It was much more fun living down there with the guys than with her boring aunt who was hardly ever even home.

There was never a dull moment, that's for sure.

As April sat on the large couch on her laptop, working on an English paper, she couldn't help but notice the homey environment around her.

Mikey was glued to the television watching that horrible anime the guys all like so much. This show was so annoying; she couldn't stand the whiny princess character. April never thought she would actually miss Space Heroes.

The guys loved it though, especially Mikey, so she kept her opinion to herself.

Raph and Casey were having an all out foosball battle, which sounded like it was heating up based on all the yelling, cursing, and banging coming from behind her.

Donnie was sitting next to her, a respectable three feet of space between them, on his own laptop, tapping away at the keys like a man possessed. He had his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in his patented "in the zone" way, showing April that he was completely entrenched in his work.

Curious, April leaned back in her seat to try and get a glimpse of what he was working on. He seemed to writing some kind of computer code. Line after line of computer gibberish took up his entire screen.

_Just add advanced computer coding to Donnie's long list of skills…_

She watched his fingers fly across the keys and was amazed by how precise and capable he was with his large three fingers. Typing seemed like an impossible task to April under those circumstances, but not only did he manage it, he excelled at it.

"You're staring." Donnie suddenly said, making April jump in her seat. Embarrassed at being caught, she looked back towards her own computer screen and shrugged, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"I was just amazed by how fast you can type; you leave me in the dust." She said, honestly. The fact that he even noticed her watching him is surprising. Usually, when Donnie is that into his work, a bomb could go off and he wouldn't even notice.

He continued typing, but glanced over towards April.

"I'm not really that fast, just a little above average, last time I clocked myself I was about 70 WPM." He shrugged one shoulder and returned his attention to his code.

"Yeah, but that's still fast, like very fast, considering…you know." She raised one of her hands and wiggled her fingers.

Donnie paused in his work and looked down at the large, green, three fingered hands on his keyboard. He looked a little sad. Pointing out how different they were physically usually made him a little self conscious.

"It's all I've ever known. I guess we learn to use what we're given." He finally said sadly.

Realizing her mistake, April attempted to backtrack with flattery. "All I'm saying is it's amazing how many things you're good at, Donnie." She said genuinely, huge grin plastered on her face.

He glanced at her shyly, surprised by her statement. Searching her face for a second, he seemed to accept what she said as truth and instantly blushed at the compliment, goofy, embarrassed grin in place.

April couldn't help but think how cute he was sometimes.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Casey vaulting over the back of the couch and plopping himself between her and the purple clad turtle.

Donnie had to lean to the side to avoid being kicked in the head by the hockey player, an angry glare already directed in Casey's direction.

"Boy, that Raph sure knows how to put up a good fight, but he's no match for Casey Jones, I just whooped his green backside." Casey boasted.

Suddenly, a throwing star came flying out of nowhere and imbedded itself in the couch mere inches from Casey. He didn't even flinch.

"You did not whoop me! You got lucky in the third bout of sudden death!" Raph screamed, with three more throwing stars at the ready.

"But I still won…and it was not luck it was the pure unfiltered awesomeness that is me." Casey smirked his cocky grin, and stretched, putting his arm along the back of the couch around April. She'd be lying if she said her heart didn't speed up a little at his movement.

Donnie let out an audible groan, and moved himself and his laptop further down the couch, away from the teens.

"Whatever, Jones! I'm up for a rematch anytime, anywhere!" Raph continued.

"That anxious for another embarrassment? Bring it on shell boy!" Depsite his words, Casey made no movement to get up. "Later, though, right now I just wanna hang."

"Do you guys mind? Trying to watch here!" Mikey sang out, not looking away from the television.

April thought she could actually see steam rising off of Raphael he was so angry.

"Ugh, forget you guys." Raph stomped out of the room, giving Mikey a good smack on the head on his way out.

"Hey! What did I do!?" Mikey screamed holding his head in mock pain.

"You were born!" Came the muffled reply, followed by the rhythmic tap tap sound of Raph letting out his frustration on the punching bag.

"Well, okay then." Mikey said returning to his show, still rubbing his abused head.

April laughed and rolled her eyes at the boys antics, finally giving her attention back to her essay.

She didn't get through more than two sentences before it became painfully obvious Casey wanted her attention. If the subtle throat clears, and fidgeting wasn't a clue when he finally reached out and closed her laptop, she got the hint.

"Something you want, Casey?" April asked, curiously.

"Come on, Red, it's Friday! You have all weekend to do homework. How about me and you go out tomorrow, see a movie? That new Lizard Apocalypse movie comes out tomorrow."

April felt herself blush at his request. Casey had asked her out dozens of times before, but usually it was in a 'How about a date?' way… not anything specific. She was always nervous about going on an actual date with him, so most of the time she would make it so the turtles were involved, so it was never really just the two of them.

She knew she felt something for Casey, she found his cockiness and bad boy attitude alluring. What girl wouldn't? He just had this presence about him, if there was one thing Casey Jones was not, it was self conscious. However, she didn't know if she actually liked him, or was just attracted to him because he was the first human boy to pay her any attention. Plus, he was the only other one who knew about the turtles, so there was that bond.

_He's also one hundred percent human…_

When all was said and done, April didn't know what she wanted.

_Oh hell, if I don't do it, I'll never know. Time to start taking some action girl!_

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, April replied. "Sure, Casey, sounds great."

He let out a loud whoop and grinned at her. "Really? Sweet!"

April watched him do a little victory dance in his seat, and laughed. Glancing over Casey's shoulder she spotted Donnie slowly closing his computer. He stood up, looking everywhere but at her and Casey.

The smile fell off her face, and she suddenly felt guilty.

That was stupid of her; she never should have done that in front of Donnie.

She looked on as Donnie gathered his things and turned to leave the room, heading in the direction of his lab. At the last minute he glanced up and made eye contact with April. He immediately looked away… but what she saw broke her heart.

_Great O'Neil, some friend you are, why don't you just stab him in the heart?_

Donnie headed across the room only to be intercepted by Leo, katanas strapped to his back, obviously ready to go out.

"Hey, Donnie, where do you think you're going? It's time for patrol." Leo asked his younger brother.

As if summoned by the word "patrol", Raph emerged, grabbed his sais and joined Leo.

Donnie shifted his weight from foot to foot, anxious to get out of the room. "Patrol? Honestly, I'm not really feeling up to it tonight…I have LOADS of work to do and if you three feel like you can handle it…"

Leo raised an eye ridge at his brother, obviously not believing his excuse. "You sure, Don? You know I don't like going out less than full strength."

Donnie lowered his voice to barely a whisper, but April could still make it out. "Please, Leo. Just…not tonight."

Leonardo's expression softened and he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Okay, bro. Just tonight though; and you're doing an extra training session tomorrow morning to make up for it."

"Understood." With that Donnie hurried out of the room, in the direction of his lab.

He didn't look back.

"Hey, if D doesn't have to go, I'm not going either!" Mikey whined from his spot still sprawled on the floor.

"You're going, Mikey." Leo said matter of fact.

"But that's not fair!" He complained in his best five year old voice.

Raphael hopped the couch and jumped on Mikey, pinning him to the ground and delivering a swift smack to the back of his head. "How's this for fair!?"

The young turtle screamed and relented. "Okay. Okay, I'll go! Now get off me!"

"Nope, not until you say it!"

"Raphael is better than me at absolutely everything."

"Annnnd?"

As Raph tortured Mikey, Leonardo approached April and Casey, both of whom were still on the couch, enjoying the entertainment.

"How about you two? Up for a patrol? I am one man down." Leo asked.

April was surprised by his request. She hadn't been on patrol with the guys since the roof incident, which was over a week ago, and this was the first time Leo had asked since.

Like Donnie, Leo had not harbored any negative feelings towards her after the argument. He agreed to run future training by her first, and to take her inexperience more into account. That was all she could ask of him.

Casey jumped up from the couch, ran to where he stashed his equipment, and began to suit up.

"I guess that means Casey's in…" Leo chuckled. "How about you, April?" He looked at her expectantly.

April thought about it for a moment. She could use a good workout, and Casey was going, so she would be able to at least keep up with _him_. The thought of Donnie in his lab made her hesitate. She was unsure if she should go talk to him or not. Even if she did though, she didn't know what she would say. Anything she had to say would probably just hurt him more.

_It's best to just leave him be for now. Let him work his way through this._

April moved her laptop out of the way and stood up. "I'm in. Let's go on patrol."

* * *

Once everyone was geared up and ready to go, Mikey decided to pick that exact moment to remember he forgot his smoke bombs.

"Hang on guys…. and gal. I'll be right back." He yelled running off to Donnie's lab to restock. The collective groans of everyone left in his wake.

After five minutes Leo and Raph began to get impatient.

"Where the hell is he?" Raph complained. April could tell he was beyond ready to hit something.

After another minute, Mikey finally emerged, with a very unhappy Donatello trailing behind him, bo staff in place on his back.

"Sorry, I couldn't find them, but look! Now D's coming with us!" Mikey said excitedly.

Leo gave his purple brother a confused look and crossed his arms. "What gives, Donnie? I thought you were too busy."

Donnie looked at Leo sheepishly and cut his eyes over to April. "I changed my mind."

"Okay, great, one big happy family. Can we please just go already?!" Raph was clearly frustrated with the delay.

"Right. Okay turtles! ...and Casey and April…. Move out!" Leo yelled extravagantly, earning another groan from Raph.

As they moved through the sewers, April couldn't help but keep glancing at Donnie. He was obviously avoiding her, by walking as far away as possible. Whatever changed his mind about coming apparently had something to do with her, based on the look he gave her earlier.

She had a sneaking suspicion Mikey also had some part to play in it.

_Whatever his reasons he doesn't want to talk about them, especially to me. _

This thought made her heart ache. She hated the idea of him being mad at her, particularly when she didn't know how to make it better.

Once again, Casey didn't share her reservations. She watched as Casey sped up to be walking alongside Donnie and swung his arm over the turtle's neck in a friendly manner.

"What gives, Nerd? What's with the sulk? One of your machines blow up or something?" Casey asked.

Donnie leveled a glare so icy towards Casey, she thought his heart would stop from sheer hypothermia.

Casey, of course, missed it, and continued. "If you're going to be this depressing you might as well have stayed behind. You're seriously killing my hype."

Donnie just shrugged Casey off him and continued walking.

He looked back at April with a perplexed look and pointed at the broody turtle. "What's his deal?"

April sighed and tried not to look guilty. "Just leave him alone, Casey. He's having a…bad day."

Once on the surface and safely on a rooftop, Leo decided that the best course of action (becasue there were so many of them) would be to split into two teams. Because some divine force apparently hates April, her team ended up being Mikey, Donnie, Casey, and herself.

_Oh just kill me now._

She looked between Casey and Donnie and was surprised to see Donnie didn't seem to mind his assignment. She was expecting him to at least object, considering he had been clearly avoiding her, but he didn't bat an eye.

Leo assigned their team to the docks, with orders to stay in communication by T-phone if necessary.

With that, they moved out.

The night began just as awkwardly as April feared it would. Donnie was silent, Casey was silent because he was ticked at Donnie, and April was silent because she didn't know what to say. Poor Mikey seemed to be so confused by all the tension in the air.

And of course leave it to Casey to break that tension in the worst possible way.

"So Red, what time do you want to go on our date tomorrow?" Casey asked just out of the blue.

April did a facepalm.

Donnie halted in his tracks.

"Casey, not now. We'll figure…"

"Quiet." Donnie said suddenly, interrupting April.

April stared at him with disbelief. Did he really just shush her? "Hey, I know you're not in the best mood but…" Donnie quickly reached out and placed his hand over her mouth, silencing her.

April was about to explode at the nerve of him, until he pointed with his free hand to the ground. That's when she got it. She nodded to show her understanding and Donnie released her.

It may have been her imagination but he seemed to let his hand linger on her face a fraction of a second too long.

_Yeah, it was probably my imagination._

She glance over the edge of the building towards the ground, and spotted six Foot soldiers. They appeared to be loading boxes from the warehouse onto a truck. Donnie watched them for a few minutes and then made a signal for them to move further away down the building, most likely so they could talk.

Once at what he deemed was a safe distance, he stopped and turned towards the group.

"Okay, six Foot bots, I know we can take that many. You guys up for it?" He asked.

"You know it, Bro." Mikey exclaimed. "Especially because it doesn't look like Karai, Fishface, or Rahzar are here. This will be a piece of cake."

Casey was next to show his excitement. "Let's bust some robot heads!"

April wasn't really looking forward to a fight, but she knew whatever it was in the boxes was probably bad news. The foot never did anything harmless. "I'm in."

Donnie nodded and started to formulate a plan. "Okay, Mikey and I will go in first. You two cover us, only come in if you're needed. Don't be surprised if there is more going on here than we see."

"Woah, hold up Stickmaster! Who put you in charge here?" Casey objected.

Donnie and April gave him a level stare as if to say 'really?'

"Okay… you're smart and all, but Casey Jones is not back up, I'm first line material." He said pointing to himself.

"Listen hothead, for once, just do as your told." Donnie said, closing his eyes and bringing a hand to his eye ridges, obviously frustrated. "This should be easy, just follow the plan, and stay with April."

The two glared at each other.

Mikey and April exchanged a look, both having a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

"Fine," Casey relented. April was shocked.

Donnie sighed, satisfied with his small victory.

"Okay. Mikey, you ready?" Donnie asked, pulling out his bo staff.

"Always." Mikey smiled, twirling his nunchucks.

The two took off running, launching themselves off the roof, onto a nearby fire escape, and dropping down below, taking the Foot bots from above.

She watched as Donnie landed on a Foot bot and swiftly stabbed it through with his naginata blade, creating a shower of sparks. In the same smooth movement he used his staff to propel his body and deliver a powerful kick to another bots torso momentarily putting it down while he freed his weapon from the other bot's body.

Watching the turtles in motion was always thrilling. The way they moved was incredible and really showed off their intense and diligent training. The sheer power and athleticism in their bodies was amazing.

Once two of the bots were out of commission for good, April looked over to ask Casey if he wanted to join them.

Only Casey was gone.

Confused, she looked towards the fight again only to see him off to the side fighting one of the bots with his hockey stick.

He had jumped into the fight without her, probably immediately after Donnie and Mikey had.

Of course he couldn't just listen to instructions this one time!

"Well, look who we have here." A female voice said behind April, making her jump.

Turning quickly, she came face to face with none other than Karai. Fear shot through April. She had faced Karai twice before, and both times she had survived on mere luck alone.

Well, luck, and a little help from Donnie.

"Karai." April said by way of greeting.

"And here I was thinking tonight was going to be boring, just a simple supply run, how dull. Turns out it's not going to be a waste. Maybe I'll finally be able to rid the world of one annoying pest."

_Yup, Karai definitely talks too much._

April pulled out her tessen and prepared for a fight. She may doubt her ability to beat Karai, but she knows she can at least hold her at bay long enough for help to come. She backed up closer to the edge of the building to check on the guys and gauge how close they were to being finished.

Glancing below, terror filled her. There were easily twenty foot bots down there now. Where they came from, she had no idea. The guys were fighting for their lives, steadily making progress, but not easily, and very slowly.

Looks like April was on her own.

"No one's coming to help you this time, April." Karai pulled out her sword. "It's just you and me."

Karai came at her, sword raised. April was just barely able to jump to the side to avoid the blow. She was suddenly even more afraid.

The previous times they had fought, Karai had toyed with her, tested her skills. She'd been talkative, and sloppy because she underestimated April.

Not this time.

She came at her with a killing blow from the start; no games were going to be played today. April knew she didn't stand a chance against the more experienced, blood thirsty, kunoichi.

Karai came at her again. This time April was able to raise her tessen to block the sword aimed directly at her throat, they met with the sound of clashing metal. She pushed back against Karai's sword with all her strength, hoping to disarm her, but she didn't even budge.

Instead, she decided to go on the defensive, and jumped back, once again raising her tessen.

She figured her best chance to survive would be to stay out of Karai's range as much as possible, by basically running away. Every time Karai would strike April would retreat, trying to use her training with Master Splinter to the fullest. She danced across the rooftop, ducking blows, rolling away from sword strikes, and feinting.

This seemed to work for about three seconds.

It didn't take Karai very long to figure out April's strategy, and every blow came closer and closer to hitting its mark, much to April's horror. Finally, she was not quite fast enough, and a searing pain sliced up her right arm.

The shock and pain of being cut was enough to make April hesitate, giving Karai the perfect opportunity to deliver a swift kick to her torso, knocking the wind out of her. She quickly followed up with a blow to her wounded arm, making April scream and drop her weapon. The tessen fell to the ground with a pretty little chime.

April collapsed with a grunt, holding her midsection. The pain in her arm was severe, and she could feel blood soaking her t-shirt.

"See April," Karai said sweetly, kneeling down to her level so she could whisper in her ear, "I told you your skills were weak."

April watched helplessly as Karai pulled back her sword, ready to end her life. All she could think about was how she wasn't ready to die. She had so much she still had left to do. She wanted to go to college, she wanted to travel, she wanted to be there for her father (even if he was a giant mutant bat). Heck, she hadn't even kissed a boy yet…that is unless you count that one time she kissed Donnie on the cheek.

_Donnie's going to be so sad when he finds out I'm gone._

_No._

_I'm not ready._

_I am not ready to die yet!_

Gathering all remaining strength she had in her body April brought her head up fast and smashed her forehead right into Karai's face.

The impact hurt… A LOT. April instantly felt dizzy and her vision began to swim, but there was a satisfying crunch that she hoped was Karai's nose, and the even better sound of her sword clattering to the ground.

Karai screamed and April could no longer sense her on top of her. Trying to gain her bearings April forced herself to stand, and her vision to level out. Everything was spinning. She felt like she was going to throw up.

_Yup, I definitely have a concussion._

April immediately started moving in the direction she believed was the fire escape, which would take her to the ground, to Donnie, and to safety.

She could hear movement behind her, and knew Karai was recovering from the blow. There was no way a single blow like that was going to keep her down too long.

"You bitch!" Karai screamed in fury. "I was going to kill you fast, but now I'm going to enjoy it!"

April willed herself to move faster, she didn't dare look behind her. She felt like everything was in slow motion, especially her feet. Her vision had almost returned to normal, and she was almost to the fire escape.

So close to salvation.

A horribly scraping sound met April at the fire escape, making her stop. Coming up the steps, like the harbinger of death, scraping his long claws along the metal, was Rahzar, blocking her only escape. She definitely didn't stand a chance against him and Karai, even without a concussion.

She risked a glance back at Karai and was terrified by the sight. Blood streaming down her face and short sword raised, she was a picture of fury, and she was out for April's blood.

April frantically looked around the roof, trying to come up with a way to survive. Before she knew it she was backed up against the roof ledge, Rahzar coming at her from one side and Karai from the other.

"It's over, April. This is starting to get pathetic, I can't believe it's taken me this many attempts to kill a normal teenager!" She pointed at Rahzar. "You stay out of it… this one is all mine. Just block her escape, she's proven to be quite the escape artist."

Karai seemed to be gaining her confidence back, despite the nasally quality of her voice from the broken nose. That, at least, was giving April some satisfaction.

The sounds of the guys still fighting the Foot bots on the ground could be heard. They were so close, but so far away.

Thirty feet down to be exact.

She didn't know if it was the concussion talking, but she suddenly knew what she had to do. It was terrifying, but if she had any chance at surviving this, it was her only chance.

_Either way I'll die. At least this way I have a choice in how._

April backed up closer, directly to the edge, sucked in a deep breath and screamed for everything she was worth.

"DONNIE!"

She had just enough time to register Karai's confused face before she threw herself off the roof.

She closed her eyes as she fell and tried to believe everything would be okay.

_It's okay. I just need to have faith._

When the impact came, it was rough, but nowhere near as splattery as she would have thought. More like a sudden stop in a car than landing on asphalt.

Realizing she was indeed still alive, she opened her eyes and got a face full of plastron. Donatello's plastron to be precise. He was lying on the asphalt, and she was sprawled on top of him.

_I knew he would catch me._

She looked up into his face at the same time he looked at hers.

"Are you alright?" They asked at the same time.

Donnie went first. "I'm fine. My shell absorbed most of the impact force. Sometimes, it's good to be a turtle." He smirked, sitting up. His eyes darted first to April's forehead, then to her eyes, then to her arm. The smirk was instantly replaced with worry. "Forget me! What the heck happened to you?"

He instantly started inspecting her arm. April refused to look at it. She didn't want to know if there was as much blood as it felt like there was.

"I fell off a building again…" Was all April could manage in reply.

"Technically, this time I believe you jumped."

_Leave it to Donnie to always be precise._

With the adrenaline wearing off, April was finding it hard to think coherently, all she managed to get out were a few more words. "Karai…roof… broke her nose, Rahzar…"

Suddenly, all she wanted to do was sleep. Some part of her mind was able to register that she was sitting in Donnie's lap, in the middle of the docks, with a bunch of broken Foot bots lying around them.

"Guess you won your fight." She said sleepily, starting to doze off.

"April?! April! Stay awake! I think you have a concussion. You need to stay alert!"

She felt a couple light slaps on her cheeks.

"Okay, Donnie, I'll stay awake." She said, nestling further into his arms and resting her head on this plastron. She couldn't help it he was just so comfy.

"April! Seriously, wake up!" Donnie pleaded.

"What's wrong with, April, was she trying to fly or something?" She heard Mikey's voice enter the conversation.

"I don't really know, she said something about Karai and Rahzar. Shes hurt though. We need to get her back to the lair ASAP, and she needs to STAY AWAKE!" Donnie screamed the last part jolting April awake.

The mention of Karai and Rahzar brought her back to reality.

She turned to look at Donnie. "We need to get out of here!" She pleaded.

"I know, Leo's on his way with the Shellraiser to bring you back…"

"NO! We have to get out of here now!" She yelled. "Karai and Rahzar are here!"

"Awww you ruined our grand entrance!" Karai's voice sang from the alley behind them. Both her and the mutant dog stepped out of the shadows.

A sound much like a growl escaped Donnie at the sight of Karai. It was a very unDonnie like sound.

"Come on we can take em!" April heard Casey shout from somewhere out of her line of vision.

Donnie glanced at the new threats, then at April, worry plastered all over his face.

"Mikey!" Donnie yelled. The orange turtle cut his eyes from the enemy to Donnie. "Smoke!"

Mikey instantly pulled out a smoke bomb and shrouded them all from view. They made their escape.

* * *

April was draped across Donnie's shell, arms around his neck, as they made their way through the sewers back towards the lair. Every few minutes Donnie would check to make sure she hadn't fallen asleep.

Not dozing off was one of the hardest things April had ever done. The gentle rocking as Donnie walked, and his warmth against her front was more than enough to make her drowsy, even without a concussion.

_How could something that's supposed to be cold blooded be so warm?_

"I still say we could have taken em." Casey whined from behind them.

"April needs medical attention, and Rahzar is a handful even when we have Raph and Leo. There is no way we could have won." Donnie said matter of fact.

"Hmph…says you." Casey started walking faster, obviously annoyed with Donnie's slower pace.

April could feel the vibrations of Donnie's voice rumbling through his shell as he talked to Mikey, it was a very pleasant sensation.

"Run ahead and make sure all my first aid supplies are ready for me. I'd go faster but I don't want to jostle April too much." He started listing off medical supplies and April stopped listening, she placed her cheek flat against his shell and just felt him speaking instead.

"You got it, bro. And good call on the tactical retreat. I was not looking forward to fighting Rahzar again…you know… the claws?" Mikey mimicked a slicing motion with his hand and shuddered. "He'd slice us up faster than pepperoni!"

With that he took off into the sewers, and Donnie and April were alone.

"Hey, you still awake?" Donnie asked gently.

"Mhmm." Was all she could manage in reply.

"Come on, I want better than that. Full sentences would be best."

April sighed. He was using his "doctor" tone of voice. "Yes, Donatello, I am awake." She said as clear as possible.

"That's better."

It was very interesting to see Donnie take charge like he did tonight. The role seemed to suit him well, not as well as Leo, but it still fit. Who would have thought that under his tentative, awkward exterior there was a natural born leader?

"Look at you, being all large and in charge." April said before she could stop herself.

He paused, obviously confused by what she said. "Um, excuse me?"

"Nothing, it's just that you're a good leader. You make good decisions and plans for the team. I never would have known." April explained.

"Well someone had too, and I definitely wasn't going to let Mikey… or Puck Head take charge."

"Casey's not that bad…"

She felt his step falter at her mention of Casey.

From then he continued walking in silence. April hated it. She wanted to feel the rumble of his voice again.

"Talk to me Donnie." She said quietly.

"About what?"

"I don't know. Anything." She pleaded. "It will keep me awake."

"Um… okay. Oh, I know! I'm developing this new computer program that will allow me to track the Kraang's activities directly from their own communications. It will translate and everything!" She could practically hear the smile in his voice that he got every time he talked about his work.

"That's great, Donnie." She was genuinely impressed.

"Oh, if you think that's great you're going to love my new version of the T-Phone…"

He went on and on about his various inventions and projects, and April listened. He obviously took great pride in his work. She got the impression he didn't get to talk about this stuff too often, his brothers probably never wanted to hear about the process, they just wanted to see the end result.

_I wonder if they realize how brilliant their brother really is. Or if they know much they take him for granted._

"You're incredible, you know that?" April interrupted when he was in the middle of a speech about some kind of processor chip.

The skin under her hands became warm, so she knew he blushing.

"W-Well I don't know… about that…" He stuttered.

"Really, you are. The things you can do are amazing. You're brilliant, Donnie."

The blush actually became visible on the back of his neck, making April giggle. It took him a moment to respond.

"T-T-Thanks, April."

They walked in silence a few moments before April realized there was still one thing about tonight that was bugging her.

"Hey, Donnie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you came with us tonight." She said sincerely. "If you hadn't, I don't know what would have happened."

"I know, I'm glad I changed my mind too." He responded solemnly, obviously thinking about the consequences if he hadn't been present.

"What made you change your mind?" She asked quietly, curious as to if he'd even answer.

She felt his muscles tense at the question. It took him a few moments before he finally spoke. "Mikey came to my lab and told me you were going on Patrol with them."

He didn't elaborate any further.

"Annd… why would that make you change your mind?" She asked, genuinely confused by his motives.

He sighed, and relaxed. "Because… if I didn't go, who would have been there to catch you?"

An automatic smile appeared on April's face. She didn't respond, just gave him a little squeeze, trying to convey her gratitude.

_I knew you'd catch me, Donnie. You would never let me fall. _

She doesn't say this out loud though. Some things are best left unsaid, especially the things that scare her.

As they approached the lair April rested her head on Donnie's shell again, and tried to stay awake.


	4. Suffering

**A/N**

Did I ever tell you guys you're awesome? Because you are. Seriously! I am loving all the kind words and how into this story people are getting. Your reviews just make my day. :)

Sooo this chapter...oh boy this chapter...

This was originally going to be my dreaded Casey April Date chapter..bleh...but i guess my subconscious would not allow it, and it morphed into something COMPLETELY different. And omg do I love it!

Expect lots of talking, not much plot development, and lots of adorableness. Hope you all enjoy! ;)

* * *

Despite her best efforts, April must have dozed off for a few moments because when she next opened her eyes she was lying on the cot in Donnie's lab, surrounded by four very concerned turtles and Casey.

Donnie was at his desk rummaging through a giant first aid kit. He seemed stressed to her, his movements frantic and tense.

Raphael was leaning against the wall talking to Casey, who appeared to be in the process of digging a path in the floor, based on his frantic pacing.

Closest to her, sat Michelangelo talking to Leo. The leader was obviously questioning his youngest brother about the night's events.

It didn't seem to be going well.

"How many Foot bots were there?" Leo asked slowly, like he's asked Mikey this same question a few times already.

"I told you, dude, at least fifty… or maybe 100? …With lasers!"

Leo groaned and put his face in his hands.

It was extremely odd for Leo to be asking MIkey for a report, especially when Mr. Accurate, Donatello had been present.

_Donnie must have not been cooperating either for him to resort to Mikey for information._

Finally starting to come back to reality, the first thing April realized is that she _hurt. _EVERYWHERE.

She had a massive headache, despite the icepack resting on her forehead. Her arm was sore and burning from her sword wound, and she got an awful twinge in her side every time she took a breath.

She just generally felt like she got hit by a truck.

Against her will, a tiny cry of pain escaped her lips, almost too quiet for even her to hear, but five heads swiveled in her direction instantly.

"April! You're awake!" Mikey cried and started towards her, only to be pushed aside by Casey, who managed to make it to her side first.

"Hey, April. How you feelin?" Casey said gently, kneeling down next to the cot.

She scrunched her brow, confused by Casey's uncharacteristic gentleness. Not only that, but he used her actual name, not "Red."

April tried to think back to the last thing she remembered. She remembered Donnie carrying her through the sewers, she remembered Casey walking ahead, and she remembered talking to Donnie… but that was where it started to get fuzzy.

Casey didn't seem overly concerned about her when they were making their way back to the lair. Come to think about it, he didn't even ask if she was okay.

He was definitely worried about her now. She had never seen the infamous Casey Jones look so scared.

_Did something happen to me while I was asleep?_

"I'm great, Casey, but did you happen to get the number of the bus that hit me?" She replied, trying to lighten the mood.

He smiled a little, reaching out and giving her hand a squeeze.

"I'm glad." He whispered softly, completely freaking April out.

"You gave us a scare there, girlie." Said Raph, resuming his leaning position closer to her cot.

Mikey was the next to chime in. "We definitely don't want a repeat of that. Way too horror flick."

April was beginning to get scared. What could have possibly happened to her to have the guys saying this stuff?

Her growing uncertainty and fear must have begun to show on her face, because Leo suddenly silenced the chatter with a whistle.

"Okay, guys, I know you're all happy April's awake, but I'm sure Donnie wants to do an examination and would like some quiet. Let's give her some space." He looked over at April and gave her a tight smile. "I'm glad you're okay."

_WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?_

Her mind was screaming it, but her mouth seemed too afraid to form the words.

Leo grabbed Raph and Mikey by the shoulders and steered them out of the room, both brothers protesting along the way.

Casey made no move to join them. He just sat there, April's hand still in his own, in silence.

Honestly, it was really starting to weird her out. This was so unlike the Casey she felt she had grown to know. This wasn't exactly an unpleasant, just very different. She didn't know how to handle it.

"Ahem." Donnie stood behind Casey, medical supplies in hand, sending the hockey player what could only be called a hateful look. He obviously wanted Casey to leave the room as well.

"I ain't going anywhere, Donnie." Casey said stubbornly, not even bothering to look behind him.

Donnie cleared his throat before replying. "I'd imagine April would like some privacy."

"And who are you to decide that for her? What makes you qualified to even look at her. You're not a doctor. I told you, we should have taken her to the hospital!" Casey finally turned around to face Donnie, rising to his full height.

This hostility seemed completely out of place, leading April to believe there was something she had missed.

"How were you going to explain her injuries to the doctors? "Oh hey, this is my friend, she fell down some stairs and now she has a concussion, a sword wound, and some mystery poison in her system?" With each word Donnie seemed to grow taller, straightening out his usual slouch, until he was just slightly taller than Casey.

_Poison? What Poison?_

"I don't know! But it would have been better than sitting here watching her suffer!" Casey yelled, moving into Donnie's space.

"Listen to me, and try and get this through your thick, Neanderthal, skull. I am just as qualified as half the people you call doctors. You know I'm not going to jeopardize her safety… unlike _some people_." Casey visibly flinched at that statement. "So let me help her, and just BACK. OFF."

Looking between the two, April realized she had never seen Donnie or Casey this angry before. If she didn't end it somehow it was going to evolve into an all out fight between the two. Casey had no issue resorting to violence, and the usually more calm Donatello looked about ready to murder him.

This was a disaster waiting to happen.

Impulsively, she reached out and grabbed Casey's hand, simply because he was within her reach. He started at her touch, looking down at her with wide eyes.

"It's fine Casey, let Donnie do his thing. You'll be right outside, and I'll be right here when it's done."

April knew Donnie wouldn't be able to relax until Casey was out of the lab. She also wanted answers, and Donnie was the best place to get them. A medical exam along the way was just a bonus.

Personally, she just wanted all the hostility to end.

But Casey didn't seem convinced.

Running out of ideas of how to beat his stubbornness, April did the only thing she could think of.

"Plus, don't forget we still have a date planned. I don't know if I'm going to make tomorrow night now, but we could reschedule." She tried to smile reassuringly.

Donnie made a rude noise, but she chose to ignore it.

Casey turned back towards her and looked her in the eye, appearing to finally calm down some. "Okay, Red. I'll be right outside. If he does anything fishy just scream."

"Excuse me!?" Donnie looked about ready to pounce on Casey. Although April agreed he kind of deserved it for that comment, that would just be counterproductive.

Looking over Casey's shoulder at Donnie, she mouthed the word "Enough," making her wishes very clear.

After hesitating a brief moment, weighing his options, Donnie crossed his arms and backed off.

April sighed in relief.

Giving April's hand one last squeeze, Casey released her and walked out of the lab, turning to glare at the turtle the whole way out.

_I don't think those two will ever get along._

It made April sad to think she was the reason.

As soon as Casey was clear of the lab, Donnie sat down on a stool next to her and got right down to business.

"Do you think you can sit up?" He asked gently, all anger gone. (Presumably, it left the lab with Casey.)

"I think so." She nodded and attempted to scoot herself farther up the cot into a sitting position. Donnie placed a hand on her back, supporting some of her weight and guiding her up.

She took a sharp intake of breath as pain shot through her side.

Donnie noticed immediately. "Where do you hurt?"

"What, besides everywhere?" She laughed out sarcastically. "My left side, it hurts when I move, or you know, breath."

"Hmm, could be your ribs. Or appendicitis, or internal bleeding, or…" April placed a hand over his lips, effectively silencing him.

"Let's just go with ribs. Karai did kick me pretty hard there." she said, thinking that's the most logical conclusion. He nodded, so she removed her hand.

"R-Right, makes sense."

Donnie pulled out something that looked like a pen and grabbed her chin to hold her head steady. She heard a click and was immediately blinded in one eye as he shined a bright light directly into it, then the other. She heard the click of his penlight again, and tried to see through the spots in her vision.

"You could have warned me you were going to blind me." April said rubbing her abused eyes.

"Sorry." Donnie said sheepishly. "Pupil dilation is normal. Looks like the worst of the concussion has passed, I guess it was very mild. Although you will have a nasty lump and bruise on your forehead." He diagnosed, reaching out and removing the icepack still resting on her head.

He probed the tender area around the top of her forehead with his fingers, making April hiss in pain.

He frowned at her show discomfort. "I'm sorry, I need to check the size of the hematoma under the skin. Headbutts are nasty business, if done improperly they can do more damage to person doing it, than the person receiving."

"Well I was kind of out of options, at the time it seemed like a good idea." April said wincing in pain again.

"You're alive, so yes, it was a brilliant idea. Great job breaking Karai's nose, by the way. I bet that made her mad.

"That's an understatement." April said dryly. A little wave of pride ran through her at his praise though. Breaking Karai's nose had been very satisfying.

Donnie was now directing his attention to the wound on her arm.

April had yet to actually look at her arm, for fear of what she might see. She just knew it hurt to move, and burned. Looking at it now, she was surprised to find her whole shoulder and upper arm wrapped in gauze, most of it over her t-shirt and undershirt. The whole right side of her yellow t-shirt was smeared with blood, making her wonder how much blood she had lost.

As Donnie unwrapped the wound, she noticed that the right arm of her black undershirt and t-shirt had been cut away, exposing the top of her arm and shoulder.

Most surprising, though, was the wound underneath, about eight inches long, it looked like a nice clean slice through her skin. What was interesting, was that the wound had been stitched up.

Nice, neat, even little stitches looked at her, stretching from the end of her shoulder nearly to her elbow.

"Donnie, how long was I out?" April asked, if they had time to do this, she was getting the feeling it was much longer than she originally assumed.

He paused in his application of some antibiotic cream, and shifted his eyes to meet hers.

"A while."

"A while as in thirty minutes, or a while as in four days?"

He went back to applying the ointment. "A while, as in 2 hours, 57 minutes."

April was shocked. No way did she think she'd been out that long.

Realization of the time hit her first. "Oh my gosh! That would mean it's after two in the morning! My aunt's going to freak!"

"We took care of it. I texted her from your phone telling her you were sleeping over Irma's." Donnie explained.

"Oh…thanks." April relaxed a little, glad he thinks of these small details no one else would. "What happened, Donnie? I thought you said I couldn't fall asleep. Why would you let me for that long?"

So much of this didn't make sense.

"You didn't fall asleep." Donnie said, getting out some fresh gauze. "You fainted."

"What? from the concussion? Blood loss?" She got the feeling there was something he wasn't telling her. Mostly from the way he refused to look at her when he was speaking.

She extended her good arm and grabbed his hand, effectively halting his doctoring for a moment. He looked at her hand, took in a deep breath and brought up his gaze to meet hers, knowing what she was going to ask.

The look in his eyes was terrifying. There was so much sadness, worry, and fear. April wanted to hold him and never let go, just to make it go away.

Her voice came out barely audible when she spoke. "Donnie, please, what happened to me?"

He closed his eyes, bracing himself. It was clear he did not want to tell her. But she had asked, so he wouldn't deny her.

April waited patiently for him to organize his thoughts, her mind trying to contemplate what could possibly have shaken him up this badly.

When he finally did speak, his voice sounded strained. "When we got back to the lair you fell unconscious. I feared it was just the concussion, and did everything I could to try and wake you up, but you were completely unresponsive. It was almost like you were in a coma."

"Did I lose too much blood or something?" April asked, surprised. The wound didn't seem too bad, but she wasn't a doctor. Maybe an artery was knicked or something.

"I thought so too, but that didn't seem to fit. The wound was already clotting, and you couldn't have lost that much."

"Well…. then what was wrong with me?" Asked April.

"I didn't really know…" She could tell he didn't like admitting this, Donnie, is not used to not knowing something. "After doing everything I could think of, I chocked it up to shock and the concussion, you're vitals were fine, so we just decided to wait until you came out of it."

"So I was just in a minicoma for over two hours?" This didn't seem right to April. Sure that was scary, but the level of concern she saw in Casey and Donnie didn't seem to fit.

"Yes…and No." The purple turtle said, taking a page from his sensei's book. "After about 30 minutes you started developing other… symptoms. First your body temperature spiked about 7 degrees in a span of no more than 20 minutes, you were absolutely burning up. We were packing ice on you to try and keep it down. I had never heard of anything like it before."

Come to think about it, April did feel kind of gross, like she had been sweating a lot. A fever breaking would explain that.

Donnie unexpectedly reached over and took both her hands in one of his large green ones. "The fever wasn't the worst of it. You started convulsing, having small seizures." He took in a deep breath and squeezed her hands. She squeezed right back, trying to give him the strength to continue.

"Oh, shell April, it was horrible. You were in so much pain, and I was completely helpless. None of us had any idea what to do. Casey kept screaming for us to take you to the hospital, but in your condition I knew moving you would have been too risky."

April was dumbstruck, she never would have guessed she was that bad off. The poor guys must have been so worried.

They sat in silence a moment, letting it sink in.

"Donnie, what caused this? What's wrong with me?" She finally asked quietly.

He raised his eyes to hers, shocking her with the sudden anger in them. "Karai." He practically spat out the name like it tasted bad on his tongue. "She poisoned you."

"What? No, she didn't. How would she have?" April scrunched her brow in confusion.

"Her sword was coated in some kind of poison; I found some traces around the wound on your arm."

She sucked in a breath.

_Poison? That crazy bitch really meant to kill me… one way or the other._

"It was unlike any poison I've ever seen or even read about. The symptoms were crazy fast, and so severe. It was definitely designed to be fatal." He raised her hands and looked her in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, April." He said suddenly.

"Sorry? For what? It's not like you're the one who poisoned me." She tried to lighten the mood.

Donnie didn't relax at all. "I couldn't help you. You were in so much pain, and I didn't know how to make it stop. I thought I…we… were going to lose you…" He turned his head away from her, eyes glassy.

Not being able to stand his guilt, she extricated one of her hands from his grasp and turned his face back to her, hand on his cheek.

"You're not going to lose me. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."

His face softened a little at her words, and he pulled her forward into an awkward half hug, mindful of her injured arm. Her side screamed at the movement, but she didn't care. Returning his embrace, she understood that he needed this. He needed to prove to himself that she was alive, well, and within his grasp.

"Besides," She said , speaking into his plastron, "you obviously did help me anyway. Seeing as I'm, you know, alive and all."

Donnie broke the hug, gently returning her to her original position. "That's the thing, I didn't." He explained. "You just got better on your own. I tried, but I was only halfway through my first antidote attempt when you started improving. In less than an hour, you went from death's door, to a full recovery. With the severity of the symptoms and how fast they happened, your system should have shut down. By all right's, you should be dead."

April was shocked. "Well, why aren't I?"

"I have two theories. The first is that since it was only a shallow graze on your arm you didn't get enough poison in your system to cause death." Donnie explained, transitioning into his science mode.

"And the second?"

He hesitated.

"The second… is that your alien DNA helped protect you from the symptoms and speed your recovery. Based on the speed of the recovery and the convulsions I believe this is the far more likely scenario."

April made a face, she didn't like being reminded that she wasn't all human.

_At least being part alien seems to have one advantage._

"And that's it. You awoke shortly after your fever dropped back to normal. Whole thing took less than three hours." Donnie concluded, once again reaching for his gauze to rewrap her arm.

It seemed like telling her everything took a weight off his shoulders. He appeared to be less shell shocked now that he was convinced she was okay.

April, on the other hand, was trying to process the fact the she had almost died three separate times in one night.

He reached up to start wrapping her shoulder, and she stopped him.

"Hold on a minute. I'd love to get out of this bloodstained shirt." She explained gesturing to her ruined outfit. It was easier to think about the practical matter of wardrobe over the absolute mess that was her life.

Donnie blushed. "Yeah, we obviously d-didn't want to t-take that off while you were unconscious. Sorry we had to cut it up."

"Eh, no big. It was pretty well ruined anyway with all the blood. Think you could scrounge up something for me to wear?" She asked.

He blushed again, then seemed at a loss. "Uh, April…in case you never really noticed, we don't exactly wear clothing."

April's face heated at her own stupidity. "Oh…right… I guess this'll be fine until I can get home.

Donnie thought for a second, and then rolled his eyes. "Hang on, I just thought of something."

He didn't sound happy as he got up and swiftly walked out of the lab, returning about a minute later.

He promptly held out a black sweatshirt to her. Taking in the cut off sleeves, it took April a few seconds to recognize the garment as Casey's.

Donnie had gotten her Casey's sweatshirt to wear. She could just imagine both of their faces when he asked Casey for it. For some reason, this struck April as kind of funny.

"Thanks." She said, accepting his offering, touched that he did that for her.

"I-I'll j-just…yeah." Donnie quickly turned around, facing the wall.

She blushed as she realized he was giving her privacy to change.

It soon became evident that pulling the shirts over her head was not going to happen. Lifting her arm pulled awkwardly at her stitches, and her ribs REALLY didn't appreciate the movement either.

Stumped for a moment, she spotted the blade Donnie was using to cut the bandages. Grabbing it, she cut the two destroyed shirts from her body.

Glancing down, she determined her black bra was salvageable, with just a few blood stains. No matter how messed up it was she wasn't willing to go without it anyway.

She looked over at Donnie and saw he was frantically tapping his foot, obviously nervous. It made her smile. He was basically back his normal awkward self.

Not wanting to torture him, she slid on Casey's sweatshirt, extremely grateful it was a zip up. She swam in it, but it was comfortable, and kept everything covered. The cut off sleeves also offered perfect access to her wound. Donnie had made a very smart choice.

"Okay, I'm decent." She called out.

Donnie spun around and made a bizarre face at her, looking at her sitting there in Casey's signature hoodie.

He resumed his position on the stool and began rewrapping her arm, his fingers making quick work of the delicate task.

"By the way, thanks for stitching me up." April said once he was finished. "I would NOT have been happy about having you do that while I was awake."

"Oh, that wasn't me. That was Master Splinter, stitches have never really been my thing." He raised his hand and wiggled his three big digits. "Turtle fingers." He said with a bit of a laugh.

"Where is Splinter?" She asked, realizing she had yet to see the rat.

"He went to bed after I announced you had stabilized. I'm sure Leo has informed him that you're awake by now." Donnie explained, putting away his supplies in the gigantic first aid kit.

He came back to her and held out his hand and a cup of water. In his hand he held three pills.

"Pain killers and an antibiotic." He explained at her questioning glance.

She obediently took the pills like a good patient.

"Now if you'd lie back down, there's one more thing I want to check." Donnie said face growing red.

Curious, April did as she was told, wincing as her side protested the movement.

"I'd like to check your ribs, to make sure none of them are broken."

April figured that's where he was going with this. "Go for it."

Instead he just stood there, face red, hand hovering over her, like he was lost.

"Donnie? Something wrong?" She asked, growing uncomfortable.

"U-Umm well….I kind of, need t-to see your side." He stuttered out.

April felt her face get hot. "Oh."

Donnie immediately started to freak. "If the pains not too bad I'm sure their fine, we don't need to do it. Or if you'd prefer someone else to do it, or go to a real doctor, or just leave it. Yeah let's just leave it; I'm sure you're fine." He rambled in one solid breath.

April couldn't help it, she laughed at him.

He glared at her.

"Sorry, you're just being kind of… adorable." She said still giggling. "Donnie it's fine, let's just get this over with."

She thinks she lost him at the word 'Adorable.' He was just staring at her with a goofy smirk on his face.

April, blushing, rolled her eyes and hiked up Casey's sweatshirt the best she could with one arm, revealing her ribs beneath.

Donnie turned even redder, and then she heard his breath hitch. Looking into his face, she saw his embarrassment flood away to be replaced with worry and anger.

Her torso and left side was one canvas of angry bruises. A smattering of angry reds and purples. This being the first time she really looked at herself as well, April was a little surprised by how injured she really looked.

April jumped as Donnie reached out and placed his hand along her ribs, his touch unexpected, but gentle. Slowly he ran his hand down her side, along her ribcage, making her shiver slightly. His hands were warm, and a little rough, calloused in places from his constant training with his staff and working on his inventions.

April could feel her pulse increase, and her face grow unbearably hot.

He lingered a few moments, probing her sides gently, making her wince when he hit a particular tender spot.

She refused to look at his face the whole time, unable to bear it.

Eventually, his hands left her skin, and she felt him pull Casey's sweatshirt back down into place, restoring her modesty.

His voice sounded rough when he finally spoke. "Nothing appears broken. I think it's mainly deep bruising. The painkillers should help with that."

She finally looked at him; he was looking at the floor, the wall, anywhere but her. "Thanks." She said simply, wondering where this sudden tension had come from.

"You're welcome." He replied. "You should probably get some more rest. I'm going to go tell the others. I know when you wake up Leo really wants to talk to you about what happened."

April sighed, knowing that was coming eventually. "Okay."

_Apparently, I can only say one word at a time now._

Donnie hesitated, mouth slightly open like he had something he wanted to say. April looked at him expectantly.

"Goodnight, April."

She deflated, slightly disappointed. Not really knowing what else she was expecting.

"Goodnight." She whispered to his retreating back, already halfway out of the lab.

_Yup, only one word at a time._

He clicked off the light, leaving her in darkness, alone with her thoughts.

In a matter of moments, Donnie did a complete 180. He had been all awkward and adorable, and then the next minute he was awkward and broody.

She could still feel his gently touches on her skin, just the thought made her heart rate increase a little.

As she closed her eyes, snuggled in Casey's sweatshirt, in Donnie's lab, there was a tiny thought at the back of her mind, buried deep down in the recesses of her brain.

When the exam was over and Donnie had taken his hands off her, maybe…just maybe…she had felt the tiniest sliver of disappointment.

* * *

**A/N**

OH how I wish I could have written this from Donnie's POV! I just really would love to write what happened during those 3 lost hours, because obviously it was interesting. But alas, I have chosen to do a third person limited from April's view, it is about her, and her journey. I think not knowing for sure makes the mystery that much more exciting though. We are left to ponder what was said to whom, and what insults were thrown around, and who was really the most concerned, just like April. Maybe we'll never know...

Oh, and personally, I think Doctor Donnie is my favorite Donnie.

Next chapter in a few days! :P


	5. Progress

**A/N**

Once again...I want to thank everyone who continues to lend me their support and kind words! The more I wrote, the more I get attached to this story, and I will definitely be sticking it out until the end. I have LOADS of ideas! Hope everyone sticks with me along the the way!

First, I'd like to address a question I was asked and realized I probably should have answered already. When this story takes place...

Basically, in order for this story to work I needed April's dad to still be a mutant, and I needed Donnie to still be working on the retromutagen. This being said, assume the story takes place just before "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman." As much as I loved the episode, I need to pretend it never happened haha.

Now for those of you still with me, this chapter is a bit of a behemoth and got away from me more than once.

Annnd what is that? Plot development? GASP!

There's a bit of everything here...so as always...ENJOY!

* * *

The early morning hours were always the most peaceful in the lair. Due to the Hamato family's tendency to operate mostly at night (for obvious reasons), early morning tended to be when everyone was asleep, even Donatello.

The usual lively and warm atmosphere of the abandoned subway station was transformed into a quiet, almost eerie place. Every sound echoed strangely down the tunnels, bouncing off the walls to be transformed into an entirely different noise.

In the silence, there always seemed to be a constant _drip, drip _coming from some unknown source.

Instead of finding it creepy or annoying, April found the noises of the lair oddly comforting.

At any other time of her life if she had been told she would have to spend so much time in the sewer, even _live_ down there for a time, her only reaction would have been horror. Now, after everything she had been through, the lair had become a home to her.

With her father mutated, flying around the city, doing god knows what, it was kind of the only home she had.

Sure she had her aunt, and her guest room, but that never felt like home to April. She feels more like a long term guest, not an actual part of life there.

Here, in the lair, she felt welcome. She felt loved. She felt like she belonged.

She felt safe.

Whether this had anything to do with the actual lair, or the four turtles that resided there, is up for debate, but the fact remained that she loved this place, and everything about it.

Even the constant dripping noise.

_Drip, Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip. Drip._

_Drip._

Okay…except when she had to pee something fierce.

Letting out a loud groan of frustration, wincing as the sound seemed to echo and became loud enough to wake half of Manhattan, April kicked off her yellow blanket.

She had woken up a few minutes prior, feeling like her bladder was about to explode. Determined to ignore it, rather than navigate the dark lair with her injuries, she attempted in vain to fall back asleep. It soon became clear that was not going to happen and a trip to the bathroom was in her future.

Bracing herself for the pain, April slowly rose into a sitting position.

Her side definitely felt tight, but the pain she had been experiencing earlier had ebbed to a tolerable degree.

_Thank you Donnie's pain meds!_

She realized her headache had also diminished to merely a dull throb.

Overall, she no longer felt like she had been hit by a bus. Now, it felt more like a taxi mowed her down.

Gathering her strength, April swung her legs over the side of the cot and shakily got to her feet.

Her head instantly started to spin, and she was overcome with nausea, forcing her to resume her sitting position by falling ungracefully back onto the cot.

Taking deep breaths, April waited for the world to right itself again.

She didn't know if this was from the concussion, exhaustion, residual poison effects, the pain meds, or a combination of all four, but it seemed walking unaided to the bathroom was out of the question.

Her bladder and pride were having none of that though.

She would not allow herself to be this pathetic.

Determined to make it to the bathroom on her own, April stood once more, eyes closed for fear she get vertigo again. Once she was sure she wasn't going to fall over, she opened her eyes and let them adjust to the dim lighting provided by Donnie's various machines and tech.

Taking her first shaky step, she gained a bit more confidence when she didn't faint straight away.

Making it over to Donnie's desk, she had to grab the table for support as her legs began to grow increasingly unsteady.

Sighing in frustration, she didn't know if she'd be able to make it.

Then, like a gift from the gods, she caught sight of a familiar shape in the dark.

Donnie's bo staff was leaning against the other side of the desk, like it was waiting specifically for her.

She had never seen a better walking stick.

Reaching out and taking the staff in her hands, she was immediately surprised by the weight of the weapon. The way Donnie swings and spins the thing around, she expected it to be light.

Thinking about it though, she realized that didn't make sense. In order for it to do any damage it had to be solid, sturdy wood. Sturdy means heavy…not to mention the blade and mechanism for releasing it encased inside.

Truth be told, in her weakened state she could barely lift the thing.

_How does Donnie make this look so easy?_

Testing out her idea, she took the staff, and with her good arm, used it to support some of her weight. Then slid it across the floor, and took a step. Basically, it was a very heavy, extremely tall cane.

And it worked perfectly.

Smiling to herself, with the help of the staff, April was able to slowly make it out of the lab across the main room and into the converted subway restroom the guys used as a bathroom.

_It's strange how Donnie can take care of me without even knowing it._

Every step seemed to be slightly easier than the last, leading April to believe her body was getting used to moving again after her trauma. By the time she made it into the bathroom, she was barely relying on the staff to support her.

Flicking on the light, she squinted against the bright fluorescent bulbs and rested Donnie's staff against the wall, giving it a little pat of gratitude before going to do her business in one of the stalls.

Exiting the stall, April caught a glimpse of herself in the large wall mirror.

She instantly regretted it.

She looked like a disaster victim.

Her hair was a greasy mess, pieces escaping her ponytail in every direction. Her yellow headband was gone, allowing April to see the lump and bruising starting just below her hairline and disappearing up onto her scalp. She looked pastier than usual, the trace amounts of makeup she wore long gone, and large dark circles had taken up residence under her eyes, giving her an exhausted look.

Taking herself in, wearing Casey's oversized sweatshirt, she couldn't help thinking that she looked like a lost child, much younger than her almost seventeen years.

Going to the sink, April washed her hands and tried to make herself more presentable. She redid her ponytail, cursing her stitches when being forced to do it sloppily one handed.

Glad she had left a bunch of her bathroom supplies behind for emergencies such as this, she was able to brush her teeth and wash her face, instantly feeling immensely better.

Satisfied her basic hygiene was up to snuff; April reached out and grabbed the staff again, ready to head back to the lab.

As soon as she tightened her grip, the blade sprung out of the top.

It scared the hell out of her.

She let out a small yelp and let go of the weapon, letting it clatter noisily to the floor, sounding like a bomb blast in the silent lair.

"April?" The sudden voice made her jump again.

Spinning towards the bathroom entrance, she was surprised to see Casey, confused look on his face, standing just inside the doorway.

The sudden movement must have been too much for her, because instantly she felt dizzy.

She reached out for the counter to steady herself, only to feel a strong arm grab her elbow and beat her too it.

"Easy there, Red. Are you sure you should be up and about already?" Casey asked, brow furrowed in worry.

Despite her dizziness, April still felt embarrassed by his closeness, especially when all she was wearing from the waist up was his sweatshirt.

She managed to blurt out a response, anyway. "Well, nature called."

She mentally kicked herself.

He smiled and began to guide her out of the bathroom, one hand on her elbow giving support, the other on the small of her back.

"When you gotta go you gotta go. I get it."

She blushed in embarrassment, and he laughed. "Let's just get you back to bed."

She nodded in agreement.

As he led her back to the lab, they fell into an uncomfortable silence.

April couldn't help but get the feeling that Casey had something to tell her. He seemed to be having an internal battle with himself.

With a growing need to break the tension, April dove in first. "What are you still doing here? Won't your dad be worried?"

"Nah, I let him know I'd be out all night. He doesn't ask questions as long as I let him know when I'll be home…We have an agreement."

April just stared at him. She honestly didn't know too much about Casey's home life. Just that he had a dad and a little sister. To be perfectly honest, she realized she didn't know much about Casey at all. She could sum up most of everything she knew in one sentence. He hates math and rats, and loves hockey…a lot.

For someone who enjoyed talking about himself in third person, he was awfully private.

She felt a little selfish for never taking the time to ask him anything about himself in all their study sessions and nights of vigilante-ing.

Once sitting safely back on her cot, Casey hesitated before releasing her arm. He finally seemed ready to say what needed to be said.

"April," he sucked in a breath, like the next sentence would be painful. April was on the edge of her seat in anticipation. "I'm sorry."

That was it.

He was staring at her expectantly, like it was her turn.

"Um. Thank you?" She said, confused. "Sorry for what, exactly."

Casey looked at her in shock. "You mean you don't blame me?"

"Blame you? For what?" She asked genuinely.

"For what?!" He practically yelled and gestured to her injuries. "For these! It's all my fault you got hurt. If I didn't jump into the fight early I would have been there to help you fight crazy girl. If I had listened…"

"Woah, woah, woah," April interrupted Casey. "I agree with you, you shouldn't have jumped in there. You should have listened to Donnie, like you said you would." He looked away from her, embarrassed.

"Buuut, to be honest Casey, it wasn't exactly unexpected. Everyone, including Donnie and me know you don't handle orders very well. You jumping into that fight was kind of a given," She paused in thought, "and if you hadn't, Mikey and Donnie probably couldn't have taken all those foot bots out and they would be where I am now…or worse."

Her breath hitched at the thought of Donnie or sweet Mikey lying on this cot instead of her.

"The only person I blame for what happened is Karai, and possibly The Shredder." She finished.

It took him a few moments to respond.

"Even if you don't blame me for what happened to you, I do, and Donnie certainly does." He said, his eyes burning with determination. "I'm going to make it up to you, April, because I should have been up on that roof to protect you."

"Casey, really, Donnie and Mikey…"

"No, April. You're more important. Given a choice between them and you…it will _always _be you. And I know that they would agree with me." He said, standing and turning his back to her. "I'm going to protect you from here on out."

With that declaration, he breezed out of the lab, leaving a shocked April behind.

As she lay down, a small twinge of pain returned to her ribs, proving the pain killers were beginning to wear off.

Casey's words just kept replaying in her mind.

She just could not agree with him.

There was no way her life was worth more than any of the turtles. They each did so much for the world, saved it, and countless people, on more than one occasion. Each one of them was infinitely more important than her.

Sad part was she knew Casey was right. They would all agree with him. April knew each one (although, she was iffy on Raph) would sacrifice themselves for her.

Especially Donnie.

The question was, could she accept that? And if so, could she live up to the honor?

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me you head butted Karai, broke her nose, and then just jumped off the building?" Raph asked incredulously.

April rolled her eyes. "Yes, Raph." She had answered this at least three times.

"Awwesome, April! Pretty good…you know, for a human." He sort of complimented, and raised his hand.

Smiling widely, she smacked her hand to his. Raph didn't give out praise easily, and she'd take it where she could get it.

She was sitting at the kitchen table with Raph, Leo, Donnie, and Master Splinter. As soon as everyone was awake and April was once again medicated, it was agreed that everyone should be brought up to speed. Casey had hockey practice early and had to go home, and Mikey had vanished early in April's retelling of the story.

Everyone agreed to let him and his short attention span wander.

"Yes, April, I agree with Raphael. Following your instincts was very wise, and got you home alive. " Master Splinter said. "However, next training session I believe we should visit the proper technique for such maneuvers as to avoid any more injuries." He reached out and gently brushed her bruised forehead.

"Hai, Sensei." She responded automatically.

"Pretty impressive, April… There's just one thing I don't quite get." Leo interjected. "How did you know Donnie would catch you?" He asked, gaze darting from April to his purple clad brother.

She could feel all their eyes on her, especially Donnie's. He probably wanted to know the answer more than any of the others. She hesitated just long enough for Raph to put in his two cents.

"That was an awful lot of trust to put in _Donnie_ of all people. You got guts, kid."

She felt the turtle in question tense beside her, and her own hackles rose a bit at the jab, feeling defensive over her best friend.

"Honestly? I didn't know." She said simply. "I just believed he would."

Raph's face contorted into an uncomfortable scowl, while Leo and Master Splinter merely nodded their heads in understanding. Leo registering a little surprise at her words for only a brief moment.

Looking out of the corner of her eye at Donnie, she could see his face was bright red and he was clearly at a loss for words.

Sorry she embarrassed him in front of his older brothers; she reached under the table and gave his hand a light squeeze, trying to lend him her support.

He promptly fell off his stool onto the floor.

He didn't get back up.

"Donnie?!" She yelled worried, making a motion to get up and help him.

"Just let him be, April. Donatello will recover in a moment." Master Splinter said, his voice light, a smile evident on his face.

Concerned, but obedient, she turned her attention back to Leo, and they resumed their discussion.

"So last night Raph and I ran into some trouble of our own. We intercepted some foot bots delivering a shipment to none other than the kraang. Not a lot, only about half a dozen bots and three kraang. This combined with the shipment you guys saw means the foot is obviously up to something, and the kraang are helping…so it has to be bad news." Leo explained.

"Interesting. What was in these shipments?" Splinter asked.

"A bunch of techno junk that we have no idea what it is. Most of it was too big to bring back for Donnie to check out." Raph said. "The rest we ended up destroying when the building blew."

"Woah, sounds like you had quite a night, too." April said, whistling.

"Well, can I have anything more specific than techno junk?" Donnie's voice piped in suddenly, making April jump.

She glanced over and he was indeed back in his seat, like nothing at happened. The only reminder a slight blush to his cheeks.

She smiled at him.

He smiled back.

"Ahem." Leo cleared his throat, trying to regain their attention.

When April finally looked at him, he was holding out his T-phone towards Donnie. "I snapped a few pictures. The lighting wasn't good and I was kind of fighting at the time so they're not the best, but I'm sure you can figure something out."

Donnie took his phone and squinted at the blurry pictures.

"Don't worry, I have an ap…"

"If you say you have an app for that, I'm going to strangle you with your own mask." Raph cut in quickly.

Donnie swallowed nervously. "I have a…program…that will clean up the pictures." He said carefully.

"Better." Raph nodded, satisfied.

Leo shook his head at his brother's antics as Donnie tapped away on Leo's phone.

"What was in the crates at the docks anyway? Must have been important to warrant both Karai and Rahzar to escort it." April asked, realizing she had no idea, even though she'd been there.

"Well, after the whole roof jumping incident we didn't have much time to investigate." Donnie, said, not looking up from Leo's phone. April flushed. "But Casey did break one open with one of his puck bombs in the fight."

"Well, what was in it?" Leo asked.

"Guns." Donnie said simply.

"Kraang laser weapons?" April asked, surprised.

Donnie stopped working and looked up. "No, just regular human guns. Loads of them. There had to be hundreds just in the one crate alone. Mostly handguns, but some higher grade stuff… semi automatics and shotguns."

Everyone stared at him in silence.

_What would the foot possibly want with that many guns?_

"Think they're getting in on the gun trade?" Raph asked.

"The Shredder would not buy and sell weapons like that for profit. There is no honor in guns, no honor in killing ones opponent from a distance or by surprise." Splinter said.

"Whatever their need for the guns, there's one thing we can be sure of." Leo said. "It will not be good for us, or this city."

Everyone around the table nodded in silent agreement.

A ding from Leo's phone sounded, just as Donnie glanced at it. "So the equipment in the crates you guys saw seems to be simple communications tech. Normal stuff too, like the kind of stuff needed for a television or radio broadcast."

None of this made any sense to April. "Why would the kraang be taking that? I'm pretty sure they have tech way more advanced already."

Donnie shook his head, eye ridges scrunched up in contemplation. "No idea, and I have no idea how the two shipments could be related….Maybe they aren't."

"It appears this matter requires further investigation before action is taken. I will meditate on this, and you boys will use your training to gather more information at night fall."

"Hai, sensei!" All three turtles answered simultaneously.

Splinter got up from the table, went to the freezer, retrieved a cheesecicle from ice cream kitty, and left the room, headed for his room and the dojo.

"I have a bad feeling about this whole thing." April said, a small shiver running through her.

"It's okay, April. We'll figure out the Foot and Kraang's plan and bring down the undeniable fist of justice!" Leo said, obviously trying to sound cool.

Raph and Donnie groaned.

April just started to laugh, holding her injured ribs.

Donnie immediately noticed her favoring her side.

"How are your ribs today?"

She wiped a tear from her eye and caught her breath. "Better…not a lot, but definitely better. Mostly thanks to your pain meds. And my head doesn't hurt at all. Basically I'm just sore, especially the arm."

"That's great progress." He said, most of the worry gone from his eyes.

"Yeah, April, before you know it you'll be back on patrol." Leo said happily.

Donnie tensed at Leo's words.

"Um, no offense Leo, but in the last week I've been poisoned, stabbed, gotten a concussion, and have fallen off two buildings."

"Technically you jumped off one…" Donnie interrupted.

"Thank you, Donatello!" She said sarcastically, giving him a glare.

He dropped his eyes and shut up.

"What I'm trying to say is don't be surprised if I don't join you on patrol anytime soon…"

Leo looked disappointed, and Donnie looked relieved. Raphael just looked bored.

"Well, if you really feel that way…I'll have to respect your wishes."

"Thanks, Leo." She said gratefully.

"You'll still train with us though, right?" Donnie asked suddenly.

She looked over at him surprised. "Of course." She smiled. "I wouldn't give that up for the world."

Shoulders sagging in relief, he grinned, showing off his missing tooth that was so undeniably _Donnie._

"Hey, speaking of training," Leo wondered, "Isn't it time for our morning training session."

Donnie glanced down at the time on his T-Phone. "Yeah, we have a few minutes before Splinter will punish us though. Just enough time to find Mikey and get ready."

As if he was summoned, Mikey suddenly appeared in the room in a cloud of purple smoke.

Donnie glared at him.

"Hey, guys, what'd I miss?" He asked.

"Um, everything. And how many times do I need to tell you not to use those ninja smoke bombs frivolously?!" Donnie yelled.

"And how many times do I need to tell you…I don't know what that word means!" Mikey yelled right back.

Donnie smacked him in the back of the head.

"Guys, training…. now,…. or punishment. Personally, I do not want sensei to do silence training with us again. It's torture!" Raph complained, growing impatient.

Donnie turned to April, blushing slightly "Wanna come watch, April?" he asked.

April thought about it a moment. She loved watching them train. It was always exciting, entertaining, and impressive.

But, what she really wanted was to go home, take a shower, and curl up in bed for another day, but she can't do that until she gets one of the guys to bring her home.

Until then, she might as well watch them train.

After all, they are four very _in shape _males, and she is a teenage girl. They may have shells, but the rest of them is undeniably human enough for her to appreciate.

_Who wouldn't love watching them work out?_

Face heating up at her thoughts, April just nodded her head at Donnie, agreeing to come watch them train.

He gave her a strange look, but then allowed the joy to show on his face.

"Oh snap, I forgot my chucks! Be right back!" Mikey disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Donnie screamed in frustration, after his little brother.

"That reminds me, does anyone know what my staff was doing in the middle of the bathroom floor this morning?" Donnie asked.

April let out a laugh, realizing she forgot to pick it back up after it scared her last night.

Suddenly, she remembered something else.

"Oh, no! My tessen!" She cried.

The three turtles gave her questioning glances.

"I dropped it in the fight and never got a chance to pick it back up…" she said sadly.

"We lose weapons all the time…I'm sure Splinter has another one sitting around or can make you one." Raph said, dismissing her worry.

April's upset and general disappointment in herself only grew. Master Splinter had given that tessen to her for a special reason. He had originally intended it for his daughter, meaning it had sentimental value for him, especially seeing as he had held on to it for so many years. She knew giving her the weapon had not been an insignificant gesture.

In the short time she had trained with it and carried it, it had become her most cherished possession.

And now she had gone and lost it…just when she was starting to improve with it too.

Donnie placed a comforting hand on her good shoulder, obviously seeing how upset she was.

"Don't worry. Maybe it's still up on the roof at the docks. We'll swing by and take a look later tonight when we're on patrol."

She gave him a tight lipped smile, not believing for one moment Karai would leave the weapon behind. She could only hope that due to her injury, the kunoichi didn't see it.

"Thanks, Donnie."

The group started walking towards the dojo, his hand shifting from her shoulder to her back, guiding her.

"Master Splinter originally intended that weapon for his daughter…I sure hope I can get it back. For his sake." She said quietly.

Donnie gave her a sympathetic look, "How about you don't tell him just yet? There's no reason to make him upset if it's just lying where you dropped it."

April imagined the disappointment and sadness on her sensei's face, and shivered. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

* * *

Watching the turtles spin around the room, doing moves that would probably kill her if she ever attempted them, April couldn't help but be impressed.

If there was one thing the turtles were it was _impressive_.

And this was just the warm up.

She would never be able to believe what Master Splinter had been able to turn these four into. They were essentially killing machines, with the potential to reap havoc across the city. Luckily for everyone though, Splinter had been wise in their teachings, drilling into each a strong honor code and responsibility to uphold what was right. Turning them into heroes instead.

The result was awe inspiring.

She couldn't wait to see how good they were in five years, when they finally finished growing and came into their own as adults.

This thought struck April in a bizarre way.

_Would I still be around in five years? Here with the guys?_

Five years in the future, April always imagined herself away at college somewhere, maybe with a steady boyfriend, figuring out her life and starting her career.

Now she wasn't so sure about that.

If she was even still _alive _in five years, she couldn't imagine leaving the guys for that long. Not to mention how she had no idea what she wanted her future to look like. She didn't even know what she would like to study in college, if she went.

_My life has gotten so complicated._

April was brought back to reality by Master Splinter shouting a quick order in Japanese. Instantly, the turtles halted their motions and split up, Donnie and Leo taking seats next to her on the sidelines, and Raph and Mikey meeting in the center of the room.

This was how they ended every training session, a mini tournament between the brothers.

Raph usually won.

With sensei's permission to begin, Mikey instantly flew at Raphael, nun chucks a mere blur to April's eyes. He was trying to use his natural speed and Raph's need for close combat to his advantage by constantly flighting out of his grasp, much like April had attempted with Karai, but much more effective.

Raph was beginning to get frustrated with his inability to catch or hit his younger brother.

"Will you just hold still so this can end with less pain?" Raph asked, sure of his inevitable victory.

Michelangelo suddenly landed a flying kick to Raph's back, sending the turtle sprawling on the rug.

Raph jumped back to his feet with a growl.

Mikey took advantage of Raph's momentary distraction, throwing his chain towards him in an attempt to immobilize him.

In one fluid movement, Raph lifted his sai to intercept the chain, allowing it to wrap around it and his forearm… and yanked it towards him, _hard_.

"Uh, oh." Mikey squeaked.

There was a brief moment of panic on Mikey's face, but he didn't have time to drop his weapon before he went flying towards Raph, propelled by the chain.

Using Mikey's own momentum against him, Raph delivered a quick punch to his gut, effectively putting the young turtle out of commission, and ending the match.

"Oh man! I thought I had you that time!" Mikey coughed out from his spot on the floor, holding his injured solar plexes.

"You wish, bro. Nice try, but I'm just too good." Raph boasted, holding out his hand to help his brother up.

The two switched places with Leo and Donnie, as the two took up their positions in the center of the room.

Bowing to one another, Donnie took out his staff as Leo unsheathed one sword.

It was always amazing to April that they used their real weapons in training. The amount of control it probably took for them not to hurt each other was astounding.

Either that, or they didn't hold back, and just trusted their brothers to be able to defend themselves.

This was especially true for Leonardo. He easily had the most dangerous weapons. Where an accidental hit by a nun chuck or staff would hurt, an accidental katana strike could do permanent damage, or kill.

She knew he would never intentionally hurt one of his brothers, but accidents did happen.

April was suddenly very nervous for Donnie.

When Splinter gave the word, Leo went on the offensive, rushing Donnie, sword raised.

Donnie sidestepped and spun, avoiding the blow completely. Spinning his staff in a flourish of movements that will never fail to amaze, he came at Leo from behind, extending his staff to try and take Leo's feet out from under him.

The group's leader hopped over the strike easily, flipping in the air to land gracefully to the side, unharmed.

April watched as the brothers exchanged blows for a few moments, each countering the other perfectly. Donnie was using his height and extra long reach the staff gave him to his benefit, easily avoiding most of Leo's strikes.

Eventually, realizing his brother wasn't going to go down easy, Leo got serious.

"You're putting up a good fight today, Donnie, but let's get on with this." Leo said.

He unsheathed his second katana.

Donnie glanced down at his staff and took an audible gulp, obviously nervous.

Leo charged him, a sword in each hand, swinging high with one, low with the other.

Donnie ducked the high blow, and instinctively placed his staff between himself and the other blade, the sword imbedding itself partially in the wood with a thunk sound.

Seeing his opportunity, Donnie twisted his staff, the wood holding onto the sword just long enough for Leo to be thrown partially off balance from the unexpected motion. Once the blade popped free, Donnie spun his staff over his head towards Leo.

Leo instantly raised his blades to block the blow.

Only it never came.

Donnie, instead, with Leo's attention focused upwards, swept his leg out fluidly and took Leo's feet out from under him.

He landed with a heavy bang, flat on his shell.

Donnie placed his staff to Leo's throat, with what, in real combat, could be a killing blow. Ending the match.

Donnie had won.

To say the room was shocked would be an understatement. Mikey and Raph just stared at Donnie with wide eyes, Leo looked up his brother with a mix of pride and confusion, and Master Splinter just watched in silence.

April was ecstatic. She immediately jumped to her feet and screamed, "Way to go, Donnie!" breaking the silence.

This earned a blush and nervous giggle from the turtle as he spun his staff and put it back in place on his back.

Mikey suddenly hopped up from his place on the sidelines and tackled his brother in a victory hug. "Dude, I can't believe _you _beat Leo! I never in a million years would have believed _you _would do that."

"Gee, thanks, Mikey….I think." Donnie said, clearly shocked from his own victory.

Leo got to his feet and sheathed his katanas. "Good fight, Donnie. You've gotten a lot faster than you used to be." He said, extending his fist towards his brother.

Donnie smiled at his leader and bumped his fist with his own. "Thanks, Leo."

"Well fought, my son. You're improvement is growing by leaps and bounds these days." Splinter joined the small celebration.

"Ahem. Excuse me, as much as I enjoyed _Donnie _destroying Lameonardo, he still needs to fight me!" Raph said, pulling out his sais. "And I won't go down as easy."

Realizing Raph was right and there was still one more fight, the others moved to the sidelines again, leaving Raph and Donnie to duke it out.

April had never seen the final match be anyone other than Leo and Raph, so this should be interesting. Donnie pulled out his staff, spinning it for good measure and looked directly at her. She smiled, trying to cheer him on with her eyes.

Letting him know he had her support.

"Okay, Donnie, considering you made my day there by embarrassing Leo, I'll go easy on you." Raph said, sais at the ready, bouncing from foot to foot.

"We'll see, Raph. I might be able to take you today." He glanced towards April again. "In fact, I may make you beg for mercy."

Raph lowered his sais and stared at Donnie in disbelief.

"Okay, no longer going easy on you…"

Splinter gave the word, and the match began, Raph's sais twirling, and Donnie's staff swinging.

April watched nervously, silently cheering Donnie on.

Raphael had him pinned in five seconds flat.

And then they saw the return of the Donnie puppet…

* * *

April watched Donnie rub his sore arm as he walked her through the sewer towards her aunt's apartment.

"I think he sprained something." He muttered under his breath.

He had barely spoken since they left the lair, embarrassed about how the fight had gone. He was even walking a little ahead of her, making it impossible for her to see his face.

Tired of his sulking, April decided to try and cheer him up.

"You fought great today." She said, genuinely.

He let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah, great. Glad you enjoy the Donnie puppet so much…" He said sarcastically.

"Well, to be honest, it is pretty funny." She giggled.

Donnie groaned loudly and stopped walking, pausing to turn and bang his head against the sewer wall.

"Oh, stop it, you big baby." She reached out and placed a hand on his injured arm, halting his pity party. "But I meant what I said. Your match against Leo was great. I knew you had it in you." She grinned at him.

He flushed and stared at her wide eyed. "Y-you r-really think so."

"Yup. And you know Raph will do anything to win, even if it means fighting a little rough." She rubbed his abused arm. "In a real fight, I'm sure you could hold your own."

He stared at her hard for a few seconds, as if studying her. Suddenly a wide grin broke over his face, "Thanks, April. That means a lot."

His smile was infectious, as she grinned right back at him.

Impulsively, she leaned over and placed a soft kiss to his arm, trying to take the pain away the only way she knew how.

Donnie's eyes became as wide as saucers and he blushed as red as Raph's mask. He was essential turned into a stuttering mass of goo.

Giggling to herself, April released him and continued walking down the tunnel, knowing he would follow when he was ready.

When they reached the manhole cover close to her aunt's apartment, April realized two things. First, it was daytime, so she'd be going the rest of the way on her own. Second, there was no way she was going to be able to climb the ladder with her bad arm and ribs.

"Okay, you have your supply of pain killers?" Donnie asked.

"Yup."

"Want me to come up with you?"

April paused a moment before answering. "Well you can't come up to the surface… it's daytime." She said apologetically. "But I think I'm going to need your help up the ladder…"

Donnie glanced at her, then to the ladder, than back to her, specifically scanning her injuries and new makeshift sling he had whipped up for her.

"Duh. Sorry! I should have thought about that." Donnie said. "Why don't you climb on my back and I'll carry you up."

April hesitated again. "Um…I can't hang on that way with only one arm."

Donnie raised his hand to his mouth, thinking, trying to solve their dilemma.

Rolling her eyes, April approached him. "Can you bend down a little?" She asked sweetly.

Confused, Donnie complied, bringing his head down even with hers.

April hooked her good arm around his neck, arm fitting perfectly between the edge of his shell and his skin.

Shocked by her sudden movement, Donnie tensed and straightened, dragging her up with him. Her ribs screamed at the sudden pulling, and she let out a gasp of pain.

"Sorry, sorry!" Donnie said, instantly coming back down to her level. "You just surprised me." He said, not looking her in the eye.

"S'okay." April breathed out. She noticed Donnie's hands were clasped behind his back, not knowing what to do with them. "Now, if you grab me around the waist, you should be able to climb up one handed.

Right away Donnie started stuttering. "W-waist? A-are y-y-you sure?"

"Donnie, just stop talking and do it." She said with a small laugh, he was just too cute sometimes.

He turned to look at her. In this position their faces were only a few inches apart. His eyes seemed impossibly huge, and she found herself unable to look away.

Her breath hitched when she felt his arm suddenly wrap itself around her waist, securing her to him.

Standing like this, at this proximity, April soon found herself wondering if his lips were soft…

And she promptly trampled the thought into a million tiny pieces and buried them deep, deep, down where they would hopefully never be found again.

She broke the gaze, choosing instead to look up, giving Donnie the not so subtle hint that they should get moving.

Blushing furiously, Donnie straightened to his full height, this time supporting April's weight so her ribs didn't pull as bad. He pulled her flush against his side, making _her_ blush this time, and began to climb up the ladder.

Once at the top, he pushed open the manhole cover a few inches and peered outside.

"There are some people in the alley. Just give it a moment for them to move on." He whispered, their faces so close she could feel his breath on her cheek.

_Of course there are people in the alley…_

The sat there, for what seemed like forever, impossibly close in the dark, just waiting.

It was one of the most awkward and frustrating moments of her life, and based on how fast his heart was beating, Donnie felt the same.

After an eternity, Donnie lifted the lid again, and gave the all clear.

She sighed in relief.

He pushed aside the lid and carefully lifted her until she was sitting on the edge of the hole.

"Don't forget to text me how you're doing, and if _anything _changes let me know as soon as possible." He said in his doctor voice.

"Yes, Doctor Donnie." She giggled.

They sat in silence a few moments, neither knowing exactly what to say.

They both opened their mouths at the same time, just as voices could be heard entering the alleyway, getting closer.

They exchanged a look of panic.

April crawled out of the hole as fast as she could with her injuries, and looked back at the turtle.

"See you in a few days?" Donnie asked, hopeful.

"Maybe sooner." She smiled.

He smiled back, the cover slid back into place, and he was gone.

She stared at the manhole cover a few moments, until the voices snapped her back to reality.

A group of four teenage girls was cutting through the alley. They were probably around April's age, and were each flawless in their appearance, hair, nails, makeup, you name it.

Giggling about something, they spotted April and gave her a wide berth, quickening their pace to get out of the alleyway faster.

_They must think I'm a crazy homeless person._

April remembered her appearance and sighed, turning to walk the short distance to her aunt's.

As she walked she took in the people around her. Millions of people, on a Saturday evening, just living their lives.

Not worrying about the kraang, or ninjas, or mutants.

Those girls were probably just on their way to the movies, or dinner, or going shopping.

April couldn't remember the last time she did any of those things.

Looking at her city, this above ground world of light, full of everything and anyone she had ever known, she had never felt less like she belonged.

* * *

**A/N**

I loved writing the brothers fighting each other, it was a lot of fun. And Donnie is just too adorable and awkward for his own good. :)

Next chapter probably by Monday/Tuesday!


	6. Outcast

**A/N**

There are so many emotions in this chapter I didn't know how to handle it! You name it, April feels it.

Anyway, another long chapter that was going to be two, but I decided to be nice and give you guys the whole thing.

Not much plot, but lots of fluff.

I like to call this _A day in the life of April._

Like always, enjoy!

* * *

That Monday, school was absolute torture.

School had always been annoying. Her dad being a scientist, she was always above average, making most of the classes pretty boring.

That day, though, it was especially painful.

Figuratively _and_ literally.

First off, she had to explain to every single person she interacted with what had happened to her. The bruises had all blossomed into lovely shades of blue, purple, and yellow, making them extremely hard to miss. No one could see the colorful marks on her ribs, or the dozens of other places they seemed to be popping up, but her head was a different matter.

Her forehead was the worst, still dark and angry, and no amount of makeup seemed to be able to hide it.

She felt like she was wearing a giant flashing neon sign on her head.

To make matters worse, brilliant she had not thought up a convincing story for how she had gotten the injury. When confronted by her homeroom teacher, April had blurted the first thing which came to her mind.

She said she walked into a wall.

Now she was forced to relive the embarrassment by telling every single other person the same lame lie.

Luckily, she had ditched the sling Donnie had given her that morning, so she didn't have to explain her arm. Most of the soreness had gone away anyway from the sword wound. Now it was mostly just itchy from the stitches. She still couldn't lift her arm above her head though, for fear of ripping Splinter's careful sewing, and aggravating the injury again.

After her first period History class (where April struggled to stay awake), she ran into Casey in the hall.

She had not seen or heard from her friend since his promise to protect her over two days earlier, which April found kind of funny considering the promise. She expected him to at least text her asking how she was doing.

Casey swaggered over to her, hockey stick in hand like usual.

She had no idea how the teachers allowed him to carry that with him all day long.

"Hey, Red. How's life?" He whistled and lightly poked her in the forehead, just on the edge of her bruise. "One heck of a bruise you got there. Does it hurt?"

She winced in slight pain. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed….and _yes _it hurts." She said, batting his hand away.

Truth be told, April didn't feel too much discomfort. The last of Donnie's pain killers were in her system, and after that she probably wouldn't even need more.

She was healing remarkably well.

Casey's face fell a little at her small display of pain. "Seriously though, are you doing alright?"

April scanned his face, surprised and touched to find actual concern in his eyes.

"Yeah…I'm good. It's mostly just bruises, they look worse than they feel." She smiled, trying to reassure him. "And Donnie says I can have the stitches out this weekend."

Seemingly satisfied with her response, he nodded and his mood appeared to lighten a bit.

"Good. We can't have you out of commission for too long. The whole operation would fall!"

He was obviously toying with her, based on the huge dopey grin on his face.

April punched him in the arm. "You guys would be lost without me, and you know it!"

"Definitely." He said seriously, making April blush.

Suddenly unexplainably nervous, April turned away and started walking down the hall.

"Come on we'll be late for class!" She yelled back over her shoulder.

Casey caught up with her in two strides, reaching out to take the books from her arms. She instantly strengthened her grip on her chemistry book and gave him a questioning look.

"What are you doing?"

"I _was _going to carry your books to your next class, you know, with your arm and everything….But if you feel that attached I won't come between you and," he craned his neck out to read the title, "Chemistry: Approaching Molecular Bonding."

Her face heated at his teasing.

"O-oh…okay. Thanks."

She handed over her books, admittedly a little hesitant, and the pair continued down the hall.

"So when's our next study session anyway, Red? I'm itching to do some trigonometry." Casey asked.

April raised an eyebrow at his sarcasm, but before she could respond, a voice interrupted from down the hall.

"April! Wait up!"

Turning towards the voice, April spotted Irma barreling down the hall like a bull directly towards her. She was shoving students out of the way on both sides, obviously desperate to get to April.

"Oh, great." Casey groaned beside her.

Upon reaching her destination, Irma instantly grabbed April by the shoulders, eyes intently searching her face.

April cringed inwardly was Irma pushed directly on her hidden stitches, sending a painful jolt through her right arm. Luckily, Casey sensed her discomfort and pushed Irma away none too gently with his hockey stick.

"Step off, _Irma._ You can't just grab people like that." He said defensively.

The two glared at each other.

"What are you now, her bodyguard?"

Distress fading away, April finally found her voice. "Hey, Irma. What's up?"

The girl broke her glaring contest to look at April, eyes immediately landing on her forehead and widening.

"It _is _true! Oh my gosh, April, what happened?"

April sighed and said, "I walked into a wall."

"She got hit with a stray puck." Casey said at the exact same time.

Irma looked between the two. "Huh? Which one was it?"

"Wall! Definitely the wall…" April glared at Casey, silently warning him to keep his mouth shut.

Irma didn't look convinced. "Uh huh. That's highly implausible, but I guess it makes more sense than what I heard."

"I know I'm such a klutz…wait…what you heard?" April asked, confused.

"There's a rumor going around that you witnessed a robbery and jumped in to fight the burglars single handedly. Eventually winning with an epic head butt." Irma explained, like this was perfectly reasonable.

Casey and April exchanged a look, worried. That was scarily close to the truth…

"T-that's ridiculous, Irma. Please, who could win a fight with a head butt!" April stammered.

"True, it's a dreadfully ineffective way to fight. The blunt force trauma is a two way street, making it pretty useless in actual combat." Irma explained in her usual ramble.

"You don't say…." Casey said with a smile, elbowing April lightly.

She felt herself flush. "Well, sometimes you don't have a choice!"

Irma looked at her funny.

"I mean, yeah…what a stupid rumor. Who would even start something like that?"

"I don't know…someone with an overactive imagination, I guess. But you have to admit it's more interesting than your story." Irma said with a small look of disappointment.

_You don't know the half of it._

April felt her butt vibrate as her T-Phone got a message.

Sighing, she pulled it out, already knowing who the message was from, and what it said.

**How are you feeling today? D.**

Rolling her eyes, she typed out a quick _Fine_, and hit send.

She knew Donnie was just worried, but the last two days he had been seriously hovering over her. Every few hours he would check to see how her injuries were, no matter how many times she tried to reassure him she was fine and healing well.

The worst was the previous morning. She had missed one of his texts because she had been sleeping. April had planned on not getting out of bed all day and just using the time to recoup and heal. Instead, a mere two hours after he had sent the message, Donnie and all three of his brothers showed up at her window, in broad daylight… geared up for battle.

They were convinced she was in mortal danger.

She immediately scolded them, and sent them back home.

To be fair, Mikey, Leo, and Raph were just as mad at Donnie as she was for that maneuver. They had no idea he was just overreacting, and truly believed she needed their help.

Donnie had looked like a kicked puppy when she had sent them away.

April had felt slightly guilty for her reaction, but she knew how dangerous it was for them to be out during the day. There was no reason for him to risk his life, or his brother's lives like that.

Plus, she didn't like being treated like a child, even if he had the best intentions.

Since then she had been better about responding to his texts, but that didn't make them any less annoying.

The bell announcing the start of second period rang shrilly through the hallway, making students scatter in all directions.

Putting away her T-Phone, April hurried after Casey and Irma to her next class.

* * *

The rest of the day went ridiculously horrible.

Word of her injury had spread like wildfire through the school, and by the end of the day there were dozens of rumors floating around as to how April had gotten the nasty mark. She heard everything ranging from Irma's robbery story, to a botched mugging, to Casey did it, to she got in a fight over a slice of pizza.

There were even a few that involved mutants, which surprised April immensely.

Sure, with all the increased mutant activity since the mutagen canisters being scattered all over the city, there had been rumors going around of strange creatures and mutant sightings. None of them were ever given much credence though.

How mutants got involved in the story of her _bruise_, she had no idea.

It was incredible how something as tiny as a bruise could create so much ammunition for people to make things up. It was even more incredible how these people tended to believe whatever they were told.

April chocked it all up to human nature and the desire to go with, not against the crowd.

Wherever she went, people stared at her, whispering to each other the version of the story they believed. Some even blatantly avoided her, moving to the opposite side of the hall.

The whole thing was utterly ridiculous.

_I hate high school._

The only good part of the day was Casey. He met her after every one of her classes, silently taking her books and walking her to her next period. She didn't think she could have gotten through the day without his presence beside her in the halls.

The worst part, though, was gym.

April was really nervous about gym all day long. First, she had to change her clothes in front of the other girls, and there would be no hiding her other injuries. Second, she may hurt herself again if she tries to participate, and lastly… she had Irma in that period with her.

She knew her friend would notice anything different, and would not give up the questioning until April caved. That was just the kind of person Irma was.

Saying goodbye to Casey, April entered the locker room, ready to face the music.

Most of the other girls had already begun to change.

Standing at her locker, staring at the gym uniform inside, she considered not changing and taking a zero for the day. She immediately gave up the idea. She had never gotten a zero on anything in her life, so that would look even more suspicious, and with all the time she had taken off earlier in the year she was dangerously close to failing anyway.

"Is something wrong, April?" Irma asked from the locker beside her, already in her own uniform.

"No. I'm fine." Bracing herself, April began to change.

Since she couldn't lift her arms over her head, she had to do that weird pull one arm in, pull head out, pull other arm out maneuver to get out of her t-shirt, but she managed. Then she did the same thing with her undershirt, keeping her stitched up shoulder away from Irma, hoping she wouldn't notice.

There was a collective gasp from the locker room.

"Oh my god, April, what happened?" Irma cried.

April ignored her for a moment, and hurriedly pulled her white gym shirt on, once again concealing her injuries.

She tried to put on a convincing smile.

"Just some work out injuries. They look worse than they are."

"You look like you got beaten!" Irma cried.

Glancing around the locker room, April noticed most of the girls were looking towards her, or trying way to hard not to.

_Great, this will really help the rumors…_

Irma was looking at her, obviously distressed.

"I promise, Irma, I'm fine. It's really not that bad."

The girl gave her an incredulous look. "Does this have anything to do with your _secret friends_?"

"W-what n-no. Of course not!"

"I swear, if they're hurting you April!"

April was beginning to panic. "No, I swear! They would never hurt me. Most of these were my fault. Some of them were accidental. It's nothing."

Irma looked away, obviously not happy with the situation.

"Fine, April. You don't want to tell me? Don't. But these friends are obviously no good for you! You are seriously hurt."

"I'm fine…" April whispered for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"No, you're not." Irma said simply, and walked out of the locker room, the rest of the girls followed, clearly only staying for the show.

Fighting the tears of frustration she could feel forming, April finished changing, and followed everyone out to the gymnasium.

_Volleyball…of course it would be volleyball on the one day I can't lift my arm over my head._

April cursed whatever higher being obviously hated her, and took up her position behind the net.

The game went as bad as she thought it would, with April hitting the ball in all sorts of directions one handed, seriously frustrating her teammates. The only thing she could do was serve, and that caused a bolt of pain to course through her arm.

Overall, she was useless.

It was so embarrassing.

After gym, rumor of her other injuries spread, adding more and more fuel to the rumors, making April want to crawl into a hole and die.

Oh, and she got a D on her chemistry test.

_When did my life get so out of control?_

She had never been so happy when the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

Casey met her outside of the school. He was practicing his slapshot by hitting an empty soda can against the wall.

She smiled when she saw him.

"Hey, Red. Want me to walk you home?" He asked, not looking up from the can.

She hesitated, not sure if she should just say yes. Was that too forward? Does he really want to? Did she care?

"Yeah, if you won't mind." April said, throwing caution to the wind.

"Nope, no problem."

He took one last shot, the can flying through the air and bouncing off the wall into the nearby trashcan. Casey pumped his fist and let out a loud whoop in celebration.

Grinning at his own awesomeness, he grabbed his bag, and then took hers out of her hand, turning in the direction of her aunt's apartment.

Curious, April wondered if he would always try and carry her stuff from here on out, and if so she didn't know how she should feel about it.

Once they were a safe distance away from the school, April began to relax a little.

"What an awful day…" She said.

"Ehhh, it wasn't so bad."

"Are you kidding? All those rumors, over a stupid bruise. That's going to follow me around until graduation!" April cried.

"Yeah…but at least almost all of them made you seem like a complete bad ass." Casey said, always looking on the bright side. "You know there was one about you fighting a gang of mutant lizards?"

April stared at him in disbelief.

_Where were these coming from?! _

"I just wanted to make it through high school nice and simple, no issues, no fights, no bad grades, just easy street." April rubbed her forehead under her bruise, feeling a headache coming on. "But instead, I'm now labeled the street fighter and made a complete social outcast. Not to mention, Irma thinks I'm in some kind of abusive relationship with the turtles... "

"Who cares what they think, April. You know the truth, and I didn't think you were one to follow the crowd. You're awesome." He grinned at her. "You've always been antisocial anyway. Why do you want to be Miss Popular now?"

"I was never antisocial…." April couldn't form a better reply, realizing that Casey was right. She shouldn't care what everyone thought…all that mattered was what she, and the people that matter most to her, thought.

Even though April knew this, the looks they gave her all day were still burning in her mind. Everyone looked at her like she was hiding a secret, like she was different, like she was dangerous.

Of course, for about a year, she had been hiding a huge secret from everyone. The existence of the turtles and the truth about the world they lived in, had been eating up at her for months, but this was the first time anyone but Irma had started to question her. This was the first time since her revelation about her physiology that she had attention focused on her; people seemed to finally be realizing that she wasn't normal.

And the looks still hurt.

April was silent the rest of the way home, mulling over the events of the day. Before she knew it, Casey had stopped walking, and they were outside of her aunt's apartment.

She sighed in relief. This day was officially over.

"You want to go visit the guys later? I'm thinking of heading down and hanging." Casey asked.

After the day she had, April wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch and watch a movie, maybe wallow in self pity a little. She didn't think going down to the lair to hang with the mutants would help make her feel less bizarre.

"I'm not really feeling up to it today..." April said.

Casey gave her a strange look. "Okay, Red." He hesitated a second, before continuing. "Just don't let today get to you, tomorrow no one's even going to be talking about it anymore."

She smiled at him, warmed by his concern.

"I know…Thanks for making today bearable, Casey." She said. "Tell the guys I said hi."

Giving him a small wave, April headed inside, climbing the stairs and unlocking the door to her aunt's apartment.

Of course, her aunt wasn't home. She was rarely home during the week, gone before April left for school, and usually coming home right before she went to bed.

Based on the note she found saying her aunt would be working late, April wasn't planning on seeing her at all tonight.

Taking in the empty apartment, she started to regret not going with Casey to see the turtles. She could use the company.

On days like this, she would come home and her dad would always ask her how her day was. If it was bad, like today, they would talk about it, usually over a bowl of ice cream. They would just talk. He would tell her about his day at his lab, and she would talk to him about school. It was always her favorite part of the day.

Thinking about her father, April felt herself starting to tear up.

She just missed him so much. It was cruel to have fate bring him back to her only to rip him away again so soon.

She just felt so alone…

As if summoned by her distress, her T-phone vibrated in her pocket. Scrambling for it, she wasn't surprised at all to see a text from Donnie.

**Everything okay? D_._**

Smiling brightly, April impulsively hit the call button, instead of sending a reply.

Donnie answered after only half a ring.

"April? Is everything alright?!" He sounded frantic, obviously thinking something was horribly wrong.

"Donnie, calm down…I just wanted to talk." She responded.

There was just dead air on the other end. April thought they might have gotten disconnected.

"Donnie? You still there?"

"Y-yeah, yeah, April. I'm still here. W-what did you want to talk about?" Donnie stuttered.

"I don't know…I'm just suddenly feeling a little lonely." She admitted.

"You can always come over if you want. You're always welcome down here. I hope you know that." He said gently.

April wanted to be in the lair so bad at that very moment. Why had she thought being home alone was what she wanted to do today of all days?

Unfortunately, after her refusal to Casey her pride wouldn't allow her to change her mind. Plus, with the day she had had, and her current state of mind, she didn't think she'd be very good company. She'd probably just depress everyone.

"No…that's okay. I have a lot of homework, and just want to hang here tonight." She tried to sound convincing.

"…okay. Just know, the offer is always there." He paused for a few breathes. "It's not the same without you here."

The picture of Donnie blushing on the other end made April smile.

_It probably took a lot of courage for him to say that._

"Thanks, Donnie. That means a lot."

She let silence dominate for a few moments, just liking having him on the other end of the line.

"Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little off…" Donnie suddenly said, surprising April.

_He knows me pretty well to pick up on my moods this easily._

"I'm fine, it was just a rough day." She suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask him. "By the way, any luck on finding my tessen?" She asked hopefully.

Maybe there will be some good news today.

"No, sorry. It wasn't on the roof anymore, my only guess is Karai picked it up."

She let out a depressed groan. "Of course, just a little good news would be too much to ask for."

This seemed to be the tipping point in her emotions, because her eyes once again started to tear. April refused to let tears fall over something so trivial though, especially while on the phone with Donnie. He would only worry.

"Thank you for looking anyway." She attempted to keep her voice steady, only detecting the smallest crack.

Donnie didn't respond for a few moments, it was silent for so long she once again found herself checking the phone to see if the call got dropped.

"I'm sorry April, but I have to go." Her face fell at the news.

"Oh…okay."

"There's something that needs my attention…" He elaborated cryptically.

"Okay."

"I'll call you later….I-I'm sorry."

"Okay."

But he had already hung up.

She stared at the phone in disbelief (and a little worry), wondering what could have possibly needed his attention that urgently.

_That settles it. I need comfort food._

She had a date with a pint of Ben & Jerry's. April dropped her T-phone on her side table and headed straight for the freezer.

The freezer was empty.

They were out of ice cream.

Once again depressed, now a little more so due to Donnie's dismissal, April realized that this was just not her day…

* * *

April went to bed embarrassingly early that night. She figured the sooner she fell asleep, the sooner it would be tomorrow and she could move on with her life.

Mentally exhausted from the stress of the day, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Only to be awoken hours later with the sense that she was no longer alone in the room.

Sensing an intruder, her eyes flew open and adrenaline began pumping through her body.

Instinctively, she reached over to her side table, grabbed her tessen and readied herself for combat, or at least the best she could, sitting in bed, still half asleep.

She spotted a figure by her window, and pulled back her arm ready to throw the tessen.

That's when her groggy brain finally started to catch up with the situation.

_Wait…my tessen? Where did this come from?_

She looked back at the weapon in her hand, only to see that it was, in fact, hers. The very same one Master Splinter had bequeathed to her months ago.

Confused, she glanced back to the figure which was obviously climbing back through the window.

_I'd know that silhouette anywhere._

"Donnie?" She asked, her voice sounding like a gunshot in the silent room.

The shadowy figure paused, one leg out the window onto the fire escape, contemplating escape.

"Come on Donnie, I know it's you."

The figure seemed to deflate, excepting defeat. "Hi, April. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Some ninja I am…"

"What on earth are you doing here?" She pulled back her covers and stood.

"I-I was in the…neighborhood…and I thought you would want me to return that to you."

She looked down at her tessen, once again sitting in her hands, where it belonged, and grinned so hard she thought her face would crack.

"Oh thank you so much, Donnie! I didn't think I'd ever get it back! Especially after you said it wasn't on the roof…" She paused realizing what she just said. "Wait a minute…where did you get this?"

He didn't answer immediately, leading April to believe she wouldn't like the answer.

She heard a long sigh come from the turtle. "Would you believe me if I told you I went back and found it on the roof after a second look?"

"Not a chance."

Suspicious, she reached over and clicked on the light. Flooding the room with yellow light.

The sight before her broke her heart.

Donnie stood there, squinting at the sudden light, and he was hurt…very hurt.

First, she noticed the blood. He had a split lip that was bleeding pretty badly and one of his legs was glistening red from what looked like multiple lacerations.

One of his eyes was almost swollen shut, and his face looked puffier than usual.

And, oh god, the bruises. He seemed to covered head to toe.

This was all she could see before he abruptly turned around and finished climbing out the window.

Rushing forward, she reached out and grabbed his arm before he could climb up to the roof. "Hold it right there, Mister! Don't think you can just run away! What happened to you?!"

He refused to look at her face, choosing instead to stare intently at the bricks of the building. "I fell off a building?"

"And then it beat you within an inch of your life? How stupid do you think I am?"

April found herself getting irrationally angry. Not at Donatello per se, but at whoever was responsible for this…and she had a good idea who.

She sucked in a sudden breath as realization dawned on her. "Karai and the foot bots did this, didn't they? You went there to get my tessen back…"

He stayed silent.

That was all the confirmation she needed.

"How could you do something so stupid!?" She screamed. "You could have died!"

Using all the strength she had, she tried to pull him back in through the window, but he didn't budge. She knew she would never move him if he didn't want her to.

"Get your but back in this apartment this instant, Donatello." She could hear the menace in her own voice.

April watched as he seemed to weigh his options again… flee or face the music. He made the wiser choice and climbed back in the window voluntarily.

"Now, sit." She pointed to her bed.

Obediently, he limped over to her bed and sat, the mattress protesting under his weight.

She realized he didn't seem to have his staff on him, which didn't make any sense, but she'd deal with that later.

"Stay right there. I'll be right back." She ran out of the room.

He stayed silent.

A few moments later, she returned trying to balance a variety of items in her arms: A bowl of warm water, towels, a first aid kit, and an icepack.

Seeing what she carried Donnie immediately started to protest.

"April, really I'm fine. It looks worse than it is. I promise." He began to rise from the bed.

She shot him a death glare. "You are _not _fine." She gestured to him. "_This _is not fine!"

He sat back down.

She handed him the icepack and gestured to his face. "Here, for your eye."

He took it willingly enough, and held it over his rapidly swelling eye. "Thanks." He muttered.

Placing herself on the bed next to him, she took up the washcloth and soaked it in the warm water.

"Donnie, seriously, what were you thinking?" She asked quietly, anger subdued. "Going to the Foot's headquarters, alone? All for a stupid fan?"

She reached out with the washcloth and dabbed at his split lip. He hissed and winced in pain.

"I wasn't alone. I had metalhead." He said confidently, regaining his composure.

She dabbed at the wound gently, wiping away all the excess blood. "I thought he blew up?"

"This was the new metalhead, version 6.0."

"Was?" April asked.

He glanced down, embarrassed. "He kind of… blew up."

She ceased her dabbing and stared at him hard.

"What. Were. You. Thinking?" She asked, anger returning.

"This is why I didn't want you to see me like this." He muttered.

"Why? Because I'd tell you how idiotic you were?"

"Because I did it to make you happy… And now you're just mad." He squeaked out so quietly, she could barely make it out.

April was shocked. Never in her life did she believe Donnie, or anyone for that matter, would go to such great lengths for her.

It was completely unacceptable.

"You thought you getting beaten to a bloody pulp would make me happy? News flash Donnie, I don't enjoy seeing my friends get hurt."

"That's why I didn't want you to see me!"

She reached out and poked one of his nastier looking bruises.

"Ow!"

"You deserved it!" She yelled. Finishing up her work on his split lip and getting a fresh towel.

"In all honesty, I wasn't expecting the opposition I came across. I was almost out, completely unharmed, when metalhead accidentally set off an alarm." Donnie explained.

As he explained what happened, she felt her anger fading away. Sure, she was mad as hell at him, but he did have the best intentions, no matter how misguided. Some miniscule little part of her was flattered that he would go to such lengths to do something nice for her.

It was just hard to stay mad at him…

She moved to the floor and began cleaning the wounds on his leg. As she cleared away the blood, three long, but shallow, gashes appeared in his calf.

"Rahzar?" She asked.

He nodded, cringing as she cleaned them with some hydrogen peroxide.

Amused by his reaction, she couldn't help but joke. "Mr. big, bad, ninja can't take a little stinging?"

Her joke seemed to put him at ease, showing that she wasn't as angry anymore.

"I'm sorry." He finally said after a few minutes of silence. "After our phone call earlier, I knew you were upset, and I just thought that would make you smile…I thought getting the tessen back was important to you."

Her heart constricted at his words.

"For a genius, you really are stupid sometimes." She said, not looking up from her task. "The tessen _is_ important to me. Splinter gave it to me, not only is it my weapon, but it has sentimental value, and it will always be my most prized possession."

She got up and sat next to him, taking his hand in her own. "Thank you for getting it back, I am truly grateful."

Donnie blushed.

At least she thought he did. It was hard to tell with the swelling.

"But," she continued, "you are so much more important. Not only to me, but to Splinter, and your brothers. If I had gotten my tessen back, but lost you… I would have never been able to touch the thing again. You're my best friend, Donnie. Please, never put something so _trivial_ before your life again."

Donnie searched her face, his good eye wide with disbelief. He was definitely blushing now.

"I promise." He answered simply, saying all that needed to be said.

Satisfied, April returned to her nursing.

His wounds really weren't as bad as she thought they were. Once cleaned up, his leg didn't even appear to need stitches.

The worst was his face, which had already begun to shrink back down to normal.

April gave him some aspirin and decided that he had no serious damage.

She was sure he would have a lot of explaining to do to his brothers when he got home though.

"What happened to your staff?" April asked, remembering his missing weapon, as she packed away the first aid kit.

Donnie hesitated before answering. "Karai kind of…cut it in half."

April's hands clenched on the hard plastic of the kit.

_I wish I could break her nose all over again._

"Hey, April?" Donnie called quietly.

"Yeah?" She glanced over towards the turtle, still seated on the edge of her bed.

"Thank you." He said.

"What could you possibly be thanking me for?"

"For patching me up." He elaborated. "You really didn't have to do that. I don't like being a burden."

She gave him a level stare, not believing his words.

"How many times have you treated my wounds, Donnie? How many times have you saved my life? How many times have you risked your own life for me?" She gestured to his wounded state. "I believe the least I can do is help you out once. You will never be a burden..not to me."

Donatello just stared at her. For a long time.

It began to make her uncomfortable.

"You know, I've never seen you with your hair down before." He finally said, chuckling at bit.

That's when April realized she had just woken up a few minutes before. She was in a pair of tiny shorts and the tanktop she had worn to bed. Her hair was down… and probably _everywhere. _

She had been in front of him like that this whole time.

Suddenly feeling very self conscious, she gathered the supplies and ran out of the room.

Putting everything away, her last stop was the bathroom, where she brushed and put her hair back up into its usual ponytail.

April didn't know why she cared about how she looked in front of Donnie. But, he was still a boy, even if he was green, and her pride wanted her to at least look decent in front of him.

Heading back to her room, she guessed her aunt still wasn't home based on how she hadn't come running to find out what all the noise was about. Since it was almost three AM, it was safe to assume April would be alone all night.

Remembering her absent aunt brought all the events of the previous day flooding back, making April groan.

_Just add injured Donatello to the list for worst day ever._

Reentering her bedroom, she was surprised to see Donnie up, standing by the window, like he was ready to leave.

At the thought of being alone again she began to panic, running over and grabbing his arm like she had when he first tried to escape.

The swelling had gone down enough in his eye for her to notice both eyes widen at her movement, and fill with worry.

"Is something wrong?" He was obviously confused by her action.

April hugged his arm to her; afraid he'd try and leave anyway. "No…where are you going?"

"Um…Home?" He answered, not getting it. "It's almost three in the morning. You need to get some sleep, and I'm going to get in serious trouble."

"Oh…" she frowned, disappointed.

Donnie looked over her face before speaking again. "Unless… you weren't planning on going back to sleep right away?"

Some hope returning, she smiled brightly.

"I'll never get to sleep now. You should stay and keep me company, just for a little while." Her voice came out shy.

Donnie blushed scarlet, but closed the window, not willing to deny her. "S-sure."

Relieved beyond words, April pulled him back over to her bed and sat down, pulling him down with her.

They both sat there, perched on the edge of the bed, unsure what to talk about or do.

April was just thrilled he was here, despite how nervous he looked.

"So…uh," Donnie began after a long, awkward, silence. "How was your day?" He smiled at her.

This one simple question, which reminded her so much of her father, was all April needed. The flood gates opened.

One second she was thrilled she had some company, the next she hurled herself at Donnie, sobbing uncontrollably into his plastron.

She felt him tense, completely surprised and horrified by her sudden shift in emotions.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She felt his arms finally go around her, stiff and unsure.

April just cried harder.

All the emotions she had experienced over the past few days just came bubbling to the surface. No matter how hard she tried to fight them back, the sobs just came faster. She didn't know why she was crying precisely, she just guessed it was everything. Almost dying, her injuries, her peers, her father, her chemistry test, they were all perfectly adequate reasons in her distressed mind.

At a loss for how to make this better, Donnie simply held her, letting her cry until she was ready to talk.

Getting a little more control of her breathing, April started to let out a few strangled words. "People at school…hate…me. I'm….freak. Chemistry. Aunt's never…home. I…miss…dad!"

Donnie started to rub small circles on her back, attempting to calm her down. "Shhh, shhh. Relax, it's okay."

Slowly, under his gentle movements, her sobbing began to ebb. After what seemed like forever, it was down to quiet sniffles.

April felt Donnie move his arms away, and place them on her upper arms, always wary of her injury. He gently pushed her back so he could look her in the face.

"Now, want to tell me what that was about?" He reached up to her face and wiped away her tears with his big thumb, making April's breath hitch again.

"I didn't have a very good day." She said lamely.

He chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I think I got that part. What was this about the people at school hating you?"

She looked away from him, ashamed, as he dropped his hands to his lap.

"They started making up rumors about how I got hurt." She began. "Some of them are utterly ridiculous, but people seem to believe them anyway. It's basically turned me into a social outcast."

Donnie looked at her strangely. "The truth is probably way stranger than some of these rumors, so why does it matter so much?"

"I don't know…it just does. The looks they kept giving me all day, I felt like some kind of freak."

Donnie didn't respond.

It took April a second to realize what she said.

"Oh, jeez. I'm sorry, Donnie." She tried to backpedal. "Not that there's anything wrong with being different…"

"No, no, I get it. Believe me I get it. Take it from someone who knows, being labeled a freak isn't the worst thing that could happen."

He wouldn't look at her, making April feel like trash. Here she was complaining about being ostracized by her high school, when Donnie and his brothers would never be accepted by the entire human race.

Yup, she was definitely trash.

Placing her hand on his face, she forced him to look her in the eye. "I would never consider you a freak. Sometimes, like when I stick my foot in my mouth like that, I believe you're more human than I am."

His eyes softened. "Genetically speaking, we are roughly the same percentage of human actually…"

April laughed, with her damage control complete, she continued her explanation.

"I don't know, Donnie. This was the first time since meeting you guys that the evidence was out in the open." She pointed to the bruise still present on her head. "People finally realizing I wasn't exactly who I said I was hit me pretty hard."

Donnie nodded, starting to understand.

"Then I came home to this empty apartment, and I started to miss my father. Days like this were always when we would talk the most…"

Another tear escaped her eye at the mention of her father. She stubbornly reached up to wipe it away, only to have her hand collide with Donatello's, on the same mission.

Seeing his intent, her stomach did a little flip, and she dropped her hand back down, allowing him to wipe away the last remains of her sadness.

His voice was the gentlest she had ever heard when he finally spoke.

"I know I've promised you this before, but I will cure your father, April." He cupped her cheek in his hand. "I will return him to you, and we will fix our mistakes and return your life to normal. As for the people at your school, forget them. You _are_ different, you are so much…better."

Not being able to control herself, April launched herself at him again, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck. He stiffened a little, but didn't pull away.

Once he returned the embrace by circling her within his arms, she felt comfortable enough to speak.

"I don't think my life will ever be normal again, Donnie." She breathed out. "But, I think I'm okay with that."

She raised her head and gave him a gentle peck on his lightly swollen cheek, silently thanking him for his support.

April instantly felt his skin heat under her touch, making her giggle. She would never get over the effect she had on him.

"W-w-w ah…" Donnie stuttered out, not making any actual words. She just waited for him to compose himself.

"What did you say earlier about chemistry?" He suddenly asked, seemingly out of the blue.

Her face heated, she was expecting him to say something a little more significant, but leave it to Donatello to latch on to the one science word she said all night.

"Oh..um, I got a D on my last Chem exam.." she explained embarrassed.

"Wow, you really did have a bad day." He laughed. "Chemistry is kind of my thing. I could help you if you want?" He offered, retreating to less emotional territory.

She smiled at the nervous turtle, loving his awkward fidgeting. "Sure, D. That would be great."

And they talked.

They talked about everything.

She told him about the various rumors floating around school about her. Some made him laugh; others just made him groan in annoyance. She told him about her father, and everything they used to do. He kept her from getting too sad by interjecting with funny stories about his brothers.

He told her about their efforts to discover the Foot's plan. Supposedly, they had been unable to come up with anything new from the Kraang or the Foot. They had only uncovered evidence of a few more shipments of guns coming into the city. The whole situation had Donnie frustrated and perplexed.

They talked for so long, April eventually dozed off, listening to his gentle voice.

* * *

As her alarm went off a few hours later, interrupting a very pleasant dream she was having, April groaned and reached over to smack the offending clock.

Sitting up, she looked around the room, disappointed to find no sign of Donnie.

_Well of course he went home. It's not like he was going to spend the whole night._

Still fighting the little tendril of upset, she glanced over to her side table and spotted her tessen.

Smiling brightly, she picked up the familiar weapon and hugged it to herself, so happy to have it back.

Placing it back where she got it, April noticed a folded piece of notebook paper sitting next to her T-phone.

Curious she took up the note, grinning when she recognized Donnie's messy scrawl.

Reading the note, she felt ten times lighter.

It was simple, and perfect and everything she needed to hear.

**_Have a good day._**

**_Love, Donnie_**

The word "love" looked different from the rest, like he had added it in later. Knowing him, he probably left and came back to add it.

Refolding the note, she walked over and put it in her backpack, not willing to leave for school without it, knowing it would give her strength.

_Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all._

* * *

**A/N**

Dawwwww! Too cute!

April kept striking me as whiny in this chapter, but then I realized she's sixteen. Sixteen is kind of the melodrama age, so I stopped stressing and just went with it.

This chapter was important to establishing exactly where April stands on an emotional level, so hope you can forgive me for the slight boring nature. Next chapter will be slightly more plot involved and possibly some action. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed, and thanks again for all your kind reviews.

Next chapter will be up by the weekend!


	7. Punishment

**A/N**

You guys are so awesome! The sheer number of views, and reviews I am getting for this story never fails to astonish me.

This chapter isn't what I was expecting, and I feel like most of you will be very disappointed. It's very Donnie light, and plot light, and mostly everything light...haha it's mostly talking. There are some emotions...

But I realized half way through that it was necessary before I take on the monster of a chapter I have planned next. This sets it up perfectly.

Without further ado...enjoy! And march on my brave little soldiers.

* * *

It had been four days since April had last heard from the turtles.

She was beginning to get worried.

The day after Donnie returned her tessen, she had received a cryptic text message from Leonardo telling her not to come to the lair for a while, and that she wouldn't be hearing from them for a few days.

That was it…one message in four days. No other explanation for their sudden disappearance.

Casey had received a very similar message from Raph, threatening him with bodily harm if he didn't comply.

Not knowing what was going on with her friends was driving April insane.

More than once, she had considering ignoring Leo's wishes and just heading down to the sewers to see what was up, but every time she decided against it. They wouldn't ask this if it wasn't important. So, for the time being, she decided to do what was asked of her, no questions asked.

So Casey and April finished out the school week, the entire time, worried about their friends down in the sewers.

One positive though, was how April's experience at school had drastically improved. Her bruises had begun to fade, and the one on her forehead was all but gone by Friday.

As the bruises healed, the gossip and rumors surrounding them became less frequent, until even April almost forgot about them. Now the hot story going around the school was about some senior's pregnancy scare, leaving April's street fighter status to fade into the background.

And that was just fine with her.

Casey continued the habit of walking her to all her classes and home every day, but once her arm started feeling better she refused to let him carry her stuff.

She wasn't completely helpless.

Unfortunately, Irma avoided her the rest of the week, clearly angry about April's secrecy. Trying to look at the situation objectively, April could see why her friend would be mad. Not only was she keeping major secrets from Irma, but she was blatantly lying to her; and she could only imagine the scenarios running through Irma's mind regarding the source of her injuries.

April felt extremely guilty about all of it.

So by Saturday, with Irma avoiding her, her aunt on a weekend business trip, and the turtles both literally and figuratively underground, April was running dangerously low on friends and seriously high on boredom.

She attempted to entertain herself in all the usual ways, reading, studying, television…but every time she found herself drifting back to thoughts of the turtles, and worrying about them.

_What if they were hurt? What if they tracked down the Kraang and were taken captive? What if Splinter had forbade them from seeing her anymore?_

With each scenario her mind came up with, April got increasingly more concerned.

_Maybe I should just go down and check on them. _

Leo did say only a few days…

Reaching up to scratch at her itchy stitches, April realized it was Saturday. It had been one week since she had gotten injured. Donnie said this was when the stitches would be able to come out.

The wound was all but pain free, with only slight bruising still present around the edges.

Not being able to think of a better excuse to go down to the lair, she grabbed her T-phone, not surprised to see no new messages or calls, and typed out a quick text to Casey.

**Going down below. Want to come with?**

All her messages to the guys hadn't been responded to, and her calls had been sent straight to their voicemails. It was surprising when her phone buzzed with an actual reply for once.

**Heck yes! I'm at practice. Meet you down there. CJ**

She smiled at his enthusiasm, glad to have him for backup in case she wasn't welcome or had to deal with hostiles.

April paused, and laughed at her thought. She was treating going to visit the lair like she was going into battle.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be as dangerous.

* * *

The clank of the old subway turnstile was almost deafening in the silence as April entered the lair.

The main room was empty, and there were no signs of life, either from the turtles or Casey.

She assumed that she had beaten Casey there, but it was unusual to not be able to at least hear any of the lair's mutant residents.

Cautiously entering the lair's main room, the tidiness of the place was the first thing she noticed. The lair was never dirty, per se, but four teenage boys did live there, and try as Splinter may to make them pick up after themselves, there was always evidence of meals, or games, or wrestling matches left behind.

Instead, everything was perfectly in its place, and spotless, like everything had been recently reorganized and cleaned.

Even the pinball machine looked like it had been polished.

Hearing the sound of the turnstile behind her, April instinctively spun, tessen raised.

Casey was standing behind her in his full vigilante gear, hands raised in surrender.

"Easy there, Red. It's just me." He said chuckling.

She gave him an uneasy smile and lowered her weapon. "Sorry, I'm just a little jumpy."

"Yeah this place is creep city. Where is everyone?" He lifted his mask and glanced around the empty room.

April shrugged. "I have no idea."

A small cry came from the direction of the dojo. Well it was sort of a cry… more half cry, half frustrated grunt.

Casey and April exchanged a quick glance, and immediately ran for the dojo. Rushing inside, weapons at the ready, they were not at all expecting what they found.

The turtles were all inside, and they were just training.

More specifically, they were all beating the shell out of Donnie.

Donnie stood in the middle of the room as his three siblings circled him, breaking off occasionally to rush in and attack. None of them had their weapons, but based on the bruises all of them were sporting, they didn't need weapons to inflict damage.

They all seemed to be moving slightly slower than usual, and the hits appeared to be more brutal than their usual training practices.

April watched silently as Leo rushed in to deliver a roundhouse kick to Donnie's head. The purple clad turtle saw it coming and flipped out of the way, directly into Raph's waiting fist. Showing some impressive agility, Donnie raised his forearm to block the punch, while at the same time hopping over Mikey who rolled in and tried to take out his legs.

With three against one though, it was inevitable that Donnie would fall. All it took was for Leo to land an elbow to his gut, and for Raph to take him to the floor.

"Yame!" Splinter yelled from his position on the sidelines.

Instantly, all four turtles fell to the floor to join Donnie, breathing hard, covered in sweat.

It was clear that they were all utterly exhausted.

"You guys look wiped!" Casey yelled from their position at the door.

All four sets of eyes flew open and looked in their direction.

"Casey! April!" Mikey shouted, not bothering to get up. Clearly it took too much effort.

"What are you guys doing here?" Leo asked, glancing nervously over towards Splinter.

"What do you mean what are we doing here? We're here to check on you guys. You fell off the grid and we were totally worried." April explained, walking towards the brothers, all still lying in a heap on the rug.

Donnie wouldn't look at her directly, and Raph just seemed aggravated by her presence.

"I must apologize, April." Splinter began, approaching her. "We did not mean to make you worry, but my sons are currently grounded."

"Grounded? What did they do?" Casey asked, surprised.

"_We _didn't do anything." Raph muttered angrily, glaring towards Donnie. "Genius, here, thought it would be a great idea to go to the Foot HQ _alone _in the middle of the night."

"Then he got beat up and got metalhead blown up!" Mikey chimed in.

With every word, Donatello seemed to shrink more and more into his shell. April not only felt embarrassed for him, but she knew she was main reason behind this situation, so she felt more than a bit guilty.

"Don't forget, then he stayed out practically all night, not coming back until it was already light outside. Which could have gotten all of us discovered." Leo concluded, giving Donnie a very disapproving look.

"Indeed, that seems to sum up Donatello's offenses nicely." Master Splinter said, also glaring at Donnie, whose head was basically all the way in his shell by now.

April was at a loss for words. She never even considered how angry Splinter would be at Donnie for his actions. She never would have imagined the level of hostility she was feeling right now.

"Wait a minute! If Donnie did all that…then why are _all _of you grounded?"

If looks could kill, Donnie would have been six feet under, based on the glares all three of his brothers shot him.

"That is because they are a team, and must learn to operate as a single unit. All of them must share the consequences of Donatello's actions as one, which makes him appreciate the severity of his poor decisions all the more. He now realizes his actions affect not only himself, but the whole family." Splinter explained. "They still have two days more of extended training as punishment."

All the brothers, except Donnie, who was still too mortified to care, let out a moan.

Casey was staring at Donnie, mouth hanging open, in shock. "Why would you do something so stupid, man?"

Donnie looked away quickly, his face turning beat red.

"Why else?" Raph said nastily, pointing towards April. "For her."

Casey turned his head so fast she thought he's get whiplash. She felt her own face heat in embarrassment.

"What do you have to do with this?"

"Um…he may have been…trying to…get my tessen back from Karai." She said shuffling her feet around.

Casey whipped his head back towards Donnie, eyes wide. "Dude, you got guts! You're completely out of your mind, but I have to respect the whole lone wolf thing."

Donnie's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he emerged from his shell. "Uh, thanks."

Raph smacked him in the head, _hard._

"You do not get to get compliments for what you did!" He growled.

Donnie winced at the blow, but didn't respond.

"Yeah, bro do you know how worried we were?" Mikey said gently.

Donnie cast his eyes down, clearly ashamed once more.

Finally able to see him clearly, April could see that his injuries were much better. His split lip was still visible, but didn't look as angry, and his eye was normal again. She couldn't see his leg because of how he was sitting on the floor, but based on how he was fighting earlier it didn't seem to be bothering him anymore.

Unable to hold her tongue, April finally spoke up in Donnie's defense. "Go easy on him guys, it wasn't entirely his fault. He would have gotten home a lot sooner, but I made him stay longer because I was lon…bored."

For some weird reason, telling the guys she was lonely seemed too embarrassing, she'd keep her emotional breakdown between herself and Donnie.

"Yes, April, I would like to have a little talk with you, if you wouldn't mind." Master Splinter said, giving her a very disapproving look.

April felt herself shrink underneath his scrutiny.

"Hai, sensei."

"We will save that for later though. For now I have four lazy sons who have to complete their training."

The four ninjas in question whimpered pathetically, breaking April's heart.

"Sorry, Sensei, but I'm not here merely for a social visit." April said, trying to give the turtles some form of respite. "It's been a week since you stitched up my arm, and Donatello told me I could get the sutures out today."

Splinter seemed to mull it over for a moment before replying. "Very well."

Donnie began to stand up, a small smile on his face. "Okay, April I'll meet you.."

But Splinter interrupted him. "_I _will remove your sutures, while my sons practice their forms."

Donnie's face fell, and he looked towards the ground. April wasn't expecting this, she was kind of hoping Donnie would be the one to tend to her wound. That would give them a chance to talk about what had been happening the last few days. But, Splinter was the one to stitch up her arm in the first place, so she guessed it was only fitting that he be the one to remove them as well.

"Hai, sensei." The boys said simultaneously and stood, preparing to practice.

"Great. What am I supposed to do?" Casey asked, annoyed with the situation.

"You, Mr. Jones, should observe them. It will do you some good to have some basic knowledge of the martial arts." Splinter said, throwing Casey a look.

The hockey player scrunched up his face in disgust as he watched the turtles move gracefully and _slowly _across the room, practicing their various katas in slow motion, perfecting their forms.

"Really? Martial arts? It looks more like interpretive dance…"

Raph halted and glared daggers at Casey. "Come say that to my face, jock!"

"Raphael!" Splinter said simply, more warning in a single word than should be legal.

The turtle sighed loudly, but continued his motions, keeping a steady threatening gaze aimed in Casey's direction the whole time.

"Come, April. This will give us a chance to have our discussion." Splinter turned and headed in the direction of Donnie's lab.

"Hai, sensei." She swallowed, suddenly very nervous.

On her way out, she glanced back at the turtles, making eye contact with Donnie. "Sorry," she mouthed to him silently, giving him a tight smile.

He shrugged and mouthed back, "Good luck," never once breaking his form.

He did earn a slow motion slap from Raph though.

She stifled her laughter and hurried after Master Splinter, only to find him already in the lab, seated on a stool, patiently waiting for her.

April would never get over how fast her sensei could move, sometimes it was almost scary how skilled he was. The turtles still had a long way until they were even in the same league as their adopted father…and April wasn't even on the chart yet.

As she approached the rat, April began to feel extremely nervous about this little _chat_. She had grown to greatly respect Splinter, even look to him as a sort of father figure in the absence of her own.

The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him.

He had been so patient with her in his lessons, much more so than she had ever seen him be with his sons. With the turtles he would trade blows, even doll out physical punishments. He had never raised a hand to her, or even suggested any kind of training maneuvers which could result in any sort of injury, even minor.

To be honest, it seemed like he was holding back with her.

_Maybe he's finally decided I'm not worthy of his time or lessons._

April gulped, hoping her thoughts were wrong, as she took a seat on the stool opposite her sensei.

Quickly, she shrugged out of her t-shirt and undershirt, leaving her in the white tank top she had put on especially for this reason. It left her shoulder and upper arm completely bare, exposing the neat line of stitches and giving Splinter easy access.

Splinter grabbed a tiny pair of scissors off the table. "This should only take a moment, and the pain should not be bad. Let me know if you become uncomfortable."

April nodded, and he got to work, by first cutting the 18 stitches, freeing them from holding her skin together.

He remained completely silent as he worked, making April more and more nervous about their upcoming talk.

Once he finished cutting, he picked up a pair of tweezers and began to pull each stitch free of her skin. It didn't hurt as April feared it would. It was just strange to feel the thread being pulled through and out of her skin. The worst she felt was a slight sting.

Instead of focusing on the uncomfortable feeling, she watched Splinter's hands. They moves nimbly and confidently, like this was a task he had performed dozens of times in the past.

Thinking back to the neatness and professionalism of her stitches, she assumed he had to of done this before.

Trying to break the awkward silence, April decided to pry for information. "Done this before?"

"Yes, many times. When you give your sons blades at a young age and make them practice with them every day, there are bound to be accidents… especially when one of those boys is Raphael."

April giggled at his joke, imagining the young turtles running around with their weapons, beating on each other.

That was a lot of power for a child to suddenly wield.

"Sensei? May I ask you a question?" April asked.

"Yes, child. You may feel free to ask me anything, and I will do my best to answer."

"Did you choose the turtle's weapons?"

"I did. On their twelfth year I picked out the weapon I thought suited each of them best and from that day on that was their primary training."

"I see…" April winced as the last stitch was pulled out of her arm.

Splinter took out some antibacterial ointment and rubbed it over her wound.

"Why the sudden curiosity?" Splinter asked finishing up his task.

She pulled her shirts back on and hesitated before speaking her thoughts. "I was just wondering why all the turtles but Donnie got some sort of blade as a weapon. I mean, he added the naginata blade just months ago after I met them, before that he was just fighting with a six foot piece of wood."

"That piece of wood, when used in the right hands can be as deadly as a sword." Splinter defended.

"I mean no disrespect, sensei. I have seen what Donnie can do with it, and it's incredible, but I was just curious as to why…"

The rat narrowed his eyes a bit before answering.

"Donatello had always been the least prone to violence of my sons. He is the gentlest spirit, and prefers to use his intellect to solve a problem over his fists. Bestowing him the Bo staff was an easy decision, as it not only respected his nature by giving him the least lethal weapon, but it seemed fitting. Donatello has the greatest weapon available naturally…intelligence. He is the only one of his brothers capable enough to take a simple staff and turn it into the useful tool he makes it every day."

April listened to her sensei and smiled, thinking of all the ways Donnie had used that staff to save her life in the past. It really was incredible.

"I can't argue with you there…but if he's so nonviolent as you say, why did he add the blade after so long?"

Her sensei gave her an odd look, making her feel like she was missing something. "Perhaps, Donatello realized that violence is sometimes necessary, especially when you have someone you want to protect."

Nodding, April realized that made sense; Donnie would do anything to protect his friends and brothers.

"April, did I ever tell you the tale of myself and my wife Tang Shen?"

Surprised by the sudden turn in the conversation, April frowned, but nodded. "Hai, sensei." She cast her eyes down, uncomfortable with the topic. "You told me how you lost her, and…your daughter, to the Shredder."

Feeling a gentle hand on her shoulder, April looked up to see Splinter's sad eyes, filled with loss. "No, not how she perished…but how we had met?"

Confused, April shook her head slowly. Master Splinter did not like talking about his previous life. She assumed it reminded him too much of what he had lost. It must be painful for him to delve into the past.

Having him sitting here, offering to tell her the story of how he and his late wife met and fell in love was extremely unusual.

And extremely exciting.

Splinter's eyes got a far off look as he began to tell his tale.

"Tang Shen was the daughter of the head of an extremely wealthy Japanese family. She was the prize jewel of the clan, with beauty beyond compare, and many potential marriage offers.

When I was a young man, her father had hired me for security purposes at a high society social event.

That was the first time I saw Tang Shen.

I instantly fell in love with her, believing her to be the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. I attempted to get her attention all evening, only to have her reject my advances every time."

Splinter chuckled sadly at the memory.

April was completely enthralled by the tale and the brief look into her sensei's mind.

"Eventually, I wore down her defenses, and she gave me a chance to speak with her. I soon discovered that underneath the beauty was a woman who was just as intelligent and kind.

Somehow, over time, she came to be able to love me back.

Times were changing in Japan, and the Ninja was not respected among the upper class like they used to be. Our love was forbidden by her father, so much so that he once attempted to take my life. He failed.

In the end, Tang Shen was forced to make a very difficult decision.

She could either remain in her family, and marry who they say she should, or give up her entire way of life, and choose me. She would be forced to sever all ties with her clan, and start life anew.

I was not a poor man, but I could no way provide the life she was used to…

I felt I did not deserve her or as heavy a sacrifice, and attempted to push her away, I couldn't let her give up everything for me. Tang Shen didn't listen though, and by some miracle she chose me.

We were married, created a life of our own, and had a beautiful baby girl."

That's where Splinter went silent. April knew the rest of the story.

"That was beautiful, Sensei. I couldn't imagine giving up that much for someone. Tang Shen sounds like she was an amazing person." She reached out and took his hand in her own, offering her condolences for all he had lost.

He squeezed her hand lightly. "She was. I only wish for you to think on this story, April. Sacrifice is a common thing in the name of love, only you can decide if it is worth the cost."

April tilted her head and scrunched up her brow, unsure of what Splinter was referring. "I'm sorry, sensei, but I don't really get it."

He chuckled to himself. "You will understand when the time comes."

He got up from his stool and began walking out of the lab. "I believe it is time for you and Mr. Jones to head home. The turtles are still grounded, and I believe having friends over violates that punishment."

Realizing she was about to miss her chance to actually talk to any of the turtles for at least another two days, April blurted the first thing that came to her mind.

"Actually, Sensei…. I was wondering if you could send Donnie in for a few minutes. I'd…I'd really like him to take another look at my ribs." She held her side and tried to act in pain. "They've really been bothering me."

"Oh?"

He raised an eyebrow and didn't respond immediately. She was suddenly nervous he would offer to check her ribs himself, and boy would that be awkward.

Finally, coming to some sort of conclusion, the tension left his body and he spoke clearly, turning away from April, and heading out of the lab. "Very well, I will send Donatello in. You may have a few minutes."

"Arigato, sensei." She said, straining her voice a bit for good measure.

"I must say Miss O'Neil, nothing brings out the stupidity in my brightest son, quite like you do."

Her jaw dropped, and she could have sworn she saw a smirk on the old rat's face as he headed out the door.

Not even a full minute later, Donnie came practically sprinting in the door coming to a skidding stop in front of her.

"Oh man, April, I'm sorry! I could have sworn your ribs weren't cracked, but if they still hurt I must have been wrong! Stupid…"

She interrupted before he could berate himself too much. "Donnie, relax! My ribs are fine." She lifted her tank top a little to show him the almost nonexistent bruising. "I just needed to talk to you real quick."

Donnie's face went through all sorts of emotions in a matter of seconds. First was worry, then confusion, then embarrassment as she lifted her shirt, then more confusion, then a sly grin appeared, followed by more worry.

"If sensei finds out I am toast!" He fell into his lab chair, and covered his face with his hands.

"Man, how bad has this punishment been?" She asked, taking in his exhausted demeanor.

"Awful! First he took away our T-phones, then our weapons, he has forbidden me from coming in here _at all_," he glanced around his lab longingly, "and it's been nonstop battle training. Mostly ambush training where _I'm_ the one getting ambushed. It's exhausting."

"Wow, Splinter sure knows how to dish out a punishment…"

"The worst of it is the guys hate me." He ran his hands down his face, letting them fall to his desk. "I don't know if they'll ever forgive me for this."

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Of course they'll forgive you, they're your brothers. I'm sure after two more days, they won't even care…" She paused and rethought her statement. "Well, Mikey and Leo won't care, and will forgive you. Raph will probably carry it around a few months…"

Donnie groaned.

"The worst part is that we can't continue our investigation into the Foot's activities, and what about the Kraang?! Sensei doesn't seem to care that the city could be in danger!"

"The city survived fifteen years without you guys, I think it'll be fine for two more days, and to be fair, what you did _was_ pretty stupid…" April said.

Donnie sat in silence a moment. "Yeah, it was. But you know what?" He brought his hand up to rest on top of hers, still on his shoulder. "I don't regret it."

April blushed slightly and pulled her hand away.

"Let's see if you're still saying that in two days." She said.

He just grinned.

"So listen, now that I'm almost back to one hundred percent, Casey and I will do a little digging up top into the gun shipments. See what we can find." She explained.

Donnie's face immediately fell into one of worry.

"You shouldn't do that by yourselves! Especially when you can't contact us." He argued.

April didn't appreciate his patronizing tone. "We'll be stealthy about it, and honestly, you can't stop us…Someone has to do it. You guys being out of commission is partially my fault, so I'm going to try and make up for it."

Donnie chewed on his lower lip for a minute, seeming to realize he didn't have too much of a choice. "You promise you'll be careful?"

"Of course. I think I've been injured enough to last me a lifetime. I don't want to go through any of that again."

"If you really need us, you can still get us on Splinter's cheese phone. And stick close to Casey." He said, a pained expression on his face.

"Donnie, relax. Casey and I have gone out vigilanteing all the time. This will be no different."

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to put his mind at ease.

"Ugh… I just want this stupid punishment to be over already!" He yelled.

"Hey, you're almost there. Just tough it out, and things will be back to normal in no time." She said gently, looking into his exhausted eyes and giving him a small smile.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Raph's voice echoed through the lab.

"Donnie! Times up! Get your but back in here, before I drag you back!"

Donnie groaned again.

"Well visiting hours are up. You need to report to the warden." April joked.

She went exit the lab, planning on saying a quick goodbye to the others. Donnie reached out and grabbed her hand first, halting her forward progress.

Glancing back to him, she felt her heart break at the helplessness in his eyes. "Just promise me you'll be careful."

Softening her gaze, she patted his arm lightly and made her voice very clear. "I promise, Donatello. I will not do anything that has a possibility of injuring me, or inflicting any sort of bodily harm. This includes, but is not limited to, falling off buildings, getting kidnapped, or performing wicked, nose breaking, head butts."

He smiled at her tone, a small amount of tension leaving his body.

Dropping her hand, he followed her out of the lab.

"What did you and sensei talk about anyway?" He asked when they were just outside the dojo.

His question brought Splinter's cryptic advice flooding back to her, along with the story of Tang Shen. Looking at Donnie she realized he sure was willing to sacrifice a lot for her. Was that what Splinter's lesson was about? The consequences of Donnie's sacrifices?

Somehow, she didn't think that was it…

"Nothing…really. Something about sacrifices and consequences.." She replied.

"Yup sounds like a good old fashioned sensei lesson." Donnie joked.

As she thought about Tang Shen and her tragic story, April couldn't help but focus on one aspect of Splinter's tale. The one he had left unsaid, but was clearly implied between the lines. Most likely it was the one detail in the story that kept Master Splinter awake night after night, racked with guilt.

Tang Shen had decided to follow her heart and give up absolutely everything she knew for love.

And that decision had ultimately led to her death.

* * *

**A/N**

So yeah...mostly Splinter...weird right?

It was fun imagining how things that we never got to see played out though, like weapon choosing.

Anyway, hope it wasn't too painful or disappointing, but I had a lot of clean up and healing to do before we moved on in a big way.

And y'all know Splinter would not let Donnie get away with what he did without some serious punishment!

Now next chapter...I officially have 2 jobs, so updates may be a tad less frequent, and I'm talking like 2 a week instead of 3 haha so not that bad...  
So be a little patient with me, and I should have the next one up by midweek.


	8. Uncertainty

**A/N**

An entire week without an update?! Gasp! I'm ashamed of myself.

Once again I want to thank everyone for your fantastic reviews and all the kind words. I still can't believe this has been viewed literally thousands of times! :D

So this chapter was difficult to write for numerous reasons (that's why it took so long). I technically just started it yesterday, the issue was getting myself to sit down and write it because I knew it would be difficult. I am still no where happy with it...but I must move on!

There are a lot of important emotional steps taken by April here, and a lot of angst to wade through. She's also a stupid teenager through a lot of it and I just want to slap her silly...

Many of you will be unhappy with parts of this chapter...but fear not I assure you, this is 100% Apritello!

So get ready for some rushed writing, rambling, whole lotta angst, emotional turmoil, action, a tiny bit of plot development, and a very guarded Donnie

ENJOY!

* * *

The first night of investigation without the turtles was a total disaster. Not only did they not learn any new information regarding the Foot and Kraang's plan, but April learned the importance of diligent, uninterrupted training.

She didn't think that after only a mere week of no training she would have fallen so far back, but she was extremely mistaken.

After only about an hour of scouring the rooftops and alleyways, April had begun to feel all her aches and pains from her injuries returning, along with the familiar tightness of weakened muscles. She finally understood why the turtles trained every single day, no matter how they felt or how busy they were.

The realization that it was this easy for her to lose what little progress she had made resulted in an irrational sense of anger. She had worked so hard, and was very proud of how far she had come, and she was not going to let some stupid injury weaken her like this again.

Pushing through the pain and fatigue, April increased her speed as she ran after Casey, determined to keep up with him, no matter how much it would hurt in the morning.

Despite her best efforts, Casey soon took notice of her weakened state, and slowed them to an unbearable crawl, allowing her to catch her breath.

She would never admit it, but she was grateful for the small respite, easing the burn coming from her lungs.

"You okay, Red?" Casey halted and lifted his mask, raising one eyebrow in question.

Taking the opportunity, April stopped and bent over, putting her hands on her knees to try to catch her breath.

"Never better." She wheezed out. "Just a little out of shape. Who knew a week would make such a difference?"

"You're probably just not back to a hundred percent yet."

April straightened herself and laughed. "That's an understatement. I'm going to have to do some serious drills with sensei and the guys to make myself feel less pathetic."

"Eh don't worry about it. You'll be back to butt kickin in no time." He glanced around at the nearby rooftops. "Tonight looks like a bust anyway. We're not far from your place, how about I take you home?"

April thought about it for a few moments.

They had been checking out all the areas where they had seen Foot activity in the past. With no better intel to go on, it was their best and only option to try and gather more info. Unfortunately, they had come up empty.

All the warehouses and shady back alleys were deserted.

Expect for one, where a Purple Dragon was mugging a tourist couple. Casey promptly put an end to that, and left the would be mugger with some nice fresh bruises for his trouble.

But there was no sign of the Foot or Kraang anywhere. Even the Foot headquarters wasn't showing any signs of life.

It was like they had vanished from the city completely.

But everyone knew that wasn't the case.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." April sighed unhappily. "Maybe I should go back to the lair tomorrow and borrow one of Donnie's spy roaches, try and get it into the HQ."

"Probably be smarter than trying to break in like Donnie did, dude almost got himself killed."

April felt her hackles rise at Casey's tone, immediately defensive of her best friend. "He did have good intentions."

He tilted his head at her defensive tone. "Isn't there a saying about good intentions? Something about the road to hell?"

She huffed and turned her back on him. "Whatever. I already gave him a speech about endangering himself, and I think Splinter took care of the rest. He got the point."

"That's the thing, April. He doesn't get the point." Casey said quietly.

Confused, she turned back to face him, surprised by the serious look on his usually nonchalant face.

"What? Of course he does."

"No, he doesn't. Not as long as it's about you." He explained. "If it's for you, he's going to keep putting himself in danger, and keep doing stupid things."

Not liking where this was going April felt herself flush with anger. "That's enough, Casey."

"No, April. You need to stop ignoring this. You know he has a mega crush on you…"

She merely nodded, unable to look him in the eye or speak.

"As long as you keep giving him hope he's going to keep doing things like this for you. That's the worst thing you can do to a guy…give him false hope."

His voice changed on the last part, making April wonder if he was still talking about Donnie.

He recovered fast, regaining his usual confidence. "Obviously, do whatever you want, Red. I just think you should let him down easy, for everyone's sake."

April remained silent, at a complete loss for what to say. Casey and she did _not _speak about feelings. She felt like this was a conversation she should be having with Irma, not him, especially concerning Donnie.

She was in completely uncharted territory here.

She glanced up at his face, and gave him one tight nod, showing him she understood his point. Satisfied, he turned and started walking in the direction of her apartment.

As they climbed down back to the ground in silence, April's mind was racing.

Should she let Donnie down, finally?

She understood what Casey was saying. Donnie would definitely do something like this again, and that wasn't fair to him or his family. She couldn't imagine what Splinter and his brothers went through while wondering if he was even still alive.

Their tiny group was all they had, all they had ever known; and she had gone and made Donnie risk it all.

But the thought of letting Donnie down terrified her. Not only did she not want to hurt him, but she didn't want to destroy their friendship. He meant so much to her. He was one of the most important people in her life, and she didn't want to jeopardize any of that.

_Do I even want to let him down?_

The sudden thought surprised April so much that she missed the last rung on the fire escape, falling the last few feet to the ground.

Casey quickly reached out and caught her around the waist, steadying her.

He smirked at the bewildered look on her face.

"You seem a little unfocused…" He said, still holding her.

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

Did she want to tell Donnie there was no hope? Was that the truth? Did she have feelings for him?

The simple answer was maybe.

April didn't know how she felt. Sure she and Donnie got along really well, and there was some chemistry between them…but what kind of future could they possibly have?

She could never go on a date with Donnie, or tell her friends about him, or ever be seen in public. What would her father say? …well if he ever became human again.

_When did this all get so complicated?_

April chewed on her lower lip, as her thoughts ran wild.

The sound of a throat clearing made her snap back to reality.

"As much as I'm enjoying this…are we going to get moving?" Casey asked.

Confused, her brow furrowed and she realized he was still holding her waist, and she had her hands on his chest.

Unbelievably embarrassed, April pushed away from him, only to have his grip tighten around her, effectively trapping her in his arms.

"This may be bad timing, Red, but you know you do owe me a movie date." He gave her a lopsided grin and her heart sped up a few beats.

How did she feel about, Casey?

There were feelings there, she knew that. Sure, he had his negative qualities, but he was brave, and strong, and kind of noble. He was also much more of a conventional choice, where she couldn't go to the movies with Donatello, she certainly could with Casey.

He at least deserved a shot after all she had put him through…and she did promise to go once before.

Putting a shy smile on her face she replied. "Sure, Casey. How about tomorrow night?"

"Really? On a Monday? Didn't think you were one to go out on a school night." He said grinning from ear to ear.

"Why not? Carpe Diem. I'll ask Irma if she wants to go, too."

Casey groaned loudly. "Seriously? That's not exactly a date, April."

April laughed at his disappointed look and pushed away from him. He let her go this time.

"I was just joking. It'll just be the two of us." She said shyly, looking at her feet.

The grin instantly returned. "Woot woot!" He punched the air in victory.

As they continued walking, April felt a little guilty and she didn't exactly know why. She knew she was going to have to let Donnie down gently, but she didn't know how she was going to do it.

Glancing towards Casey, she couldn't help but wonder if she had made the right decision.

It was definitely the safer choice… but was it the right one?

* * *

The next evening, April was in serious panic mode.

She was rushing around her bedroom in her aunt's apartment trying to figure out what to wear. She wrestled with the idea of wearing her usual yellow t-shirt and instantly forgot it.

This was her first _real date_,there was no way she was not at least going to try and look nice.

In the end, she decided on just changing her top, that way she could wear her usual shorts and leggings, and not look like she tried too hard.

Now the issue was just choosing something she actually liked.

Searching through her limited collection, April began to grow increasingly more frustrated. She hadn't moved her entire wardrobe over from her father's apartment, and what she did have anyway didn't represent too much variety. She assumed that's what happens when you grow up with a single father and no mother figure.

About to say screw it and go in her usual clothes, April found a shirt in her closet she had forgotten about. It was shoved in the back, and still had the tag on it.

April remembered she had bought it on a trip to the mall with Irma a little less than a year ago. Irma had forced her to buy it after she had tried it on, despite April's protests.

It was perfect. A dark purple tank top with jeweled beading all along the neckline, it was casual, yet dressy.

Plus, it showed off her sword scar, and something about that appealed to April.

Smiling at her successful find, she quickly changed and ran to the bathroom to apply a bit more makeup than usual.

Looking at her reflection in her bathroom mirror, April did something she never did. She pulled her hair out of her ponytail, and let it fall around her shoulders. Unable to keep it down completely, due to her own comfort zone, she grabbed a black headband and replaced her yellow one.

Nodding to her reflection, satisfied with her work, she grabbed her T-phone and waited for Casey to arrive.

He was fifteen minutes late, and she wasn't surprised at all.

Opening the door, she revealed Casey, in his usual attire, not a hockey stick in sight. His jaw dropped when he saw her, making April blush and internally applaud her choice.

"Hey." She said, smiling.

He cleared his throat. "Hey, Red. Looking good."

"Thanks."

As the pair stepped onto the street and started walking towards the theater, April was struck with an idea.

"Hey, Casey?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Want to head down below real quick, and catch the next showing?"

Casey stopped walking and just stared at her. "Why?"

She looked down at her shuffling feet. She didn't really know why she suddenly wanted to go see the guys so badly. Although, it might have had to do with wanting them to see her actually look like a girl for once.

But she would never admit that to Casey.

"I just wanted to go check on them. Make sure Splinter hasn't killed them yet." She looked up and smiled sweetly, practically begging him.

Casey's shoulders fell, clearly not happy with the change in plans, but he sighed and relented to April's puppy dog eyes. "Fine."

"Thank you!" April exclaimed and turned, practically skipping towards the nearest manhole cover.

* * *

Approaching the lair, April could hear the turtles talking and laughing. They were in the main room, and by the sound of things, seemed to be enjoying themselves.

As they entered, she could see Leo, Mikey, and Raph all huddled around the TV.

Donnie was nowhere to be seen.

"See! I told you they'd survive!" Mikey yelled, pointing at the screen.

"Of course they survived! They're the main characters." Raph said, arms crossed over his plastron.

"Admit it, Raph, you were nervous they wouldn't make it." Leo said laughing.

"Yeah right. This show is dumb anyway!" He got up to leave, spotting Casey and April entering the lair.

"Yo! Dude, I thought you guys were still grounded?" Casey asked, going up and giving Raph one of those bro hugs that only guys seem to be able to do.

"Time off for good behavior!" Mikey yelled.

"Master Splinter lifted our punishment this morning." Leo elaborated.

"That's great! I see you survived." April joked.

All three turtles turned their eyes to her and took in her appearance, eyes widening in surprise.

"Woah, April, you got a date or something?" Mikey asked, a sly grin on his face.

Her face heated at all their attention, and she found herself stuttering out a response. "N-no..I mean Y-yes…Sort of." She looked at Casey for help.

He laughed and took pity on her. "We're going to the movies after this."

The three brothers exchanged looks April didn't understand.

"That's great." Leo finally said after a small silence.

"Let me know if this jerk tries anything funny." Raph said, punching Casey in the arm, making him wince.

April stopped paying attention to them as she glanced around the lair, wondering where a certain purple clad turtle was hiding.

"Where's Donnie?" She asked, giving in to her curiosity.

"Where else? His lab." Raph answered, bored.

"He said something about too many projects left unattended for too long. He's been in there since Splinter lifted his ban this morning." Leo stated.

About to head off to find the missing turtle, April was stopped by Mikey grabbing her arm before she took two steps.

"Wait, April! I'm so glad you're here! I need to ask you a favor, stay right there!" He said immediately running off towards the kitchen.

Confused and curious, April did as she was told.

The youngest brother returned in a few moments holding a piece of paper.

"Can you get me this stuff by tomorrow?" He asked, holding out the list.

Arching a brow, April took and scanned Mikey's list. It wasn't unusual for the guys to ask her to get things, but usually she didn't have deadline.

"Eggs, flour, sugar, frosting…what are you, baking a cake?" April asked.

"Of course! This is the first year we can have a real cake! Not one made of worms and algae!" He beamed at her.

She tried to ignore the worms and algae. April didn't like to think about how they lived before venturing up to the surface. "Is it some kind of special occasion?"

"Tomorrow's our mutation day!" Mikey shouted, excitedly.

"Mutation day?" Casey asked, just as confused as April.

"Tomorrow will be 16 years since we were mutated from regular turtles." Leo said. "mikey kind of make s a big deal out of it every year…"

Mikey looked hurt at his brother's lack of interest. "Well it's important! It's like celebrating a historical event, like the Fourth of July…or Bastille day, or celebrating the birth of Santa with Christmas."

Raph face palmed.

April wanted to know how Mikey knew about something like Bastille day, but she had more important things on her mind.

"Wait… tomorrow's your guys' birthday?! Why didn't you tell me!"

"We didn't think it really mattered." Raph said, confused by her distress.

April instantly felt like an awful friend. She couldn't believe she had never asked them when their birthday was. She started compiling a list of all the things she was going to have to get and do before tomorrow night.

"Of course it matters! It will be your first real birthday celebration." She folded Mikey's list and put it in her pocket. "I'll take care of everything, Mikey. Don't you worry."

"Don't worry about what?" Donnie's voice traveled across the room.

"D! April's going to throw us a mutation day celebration!" Mikey exclaimed, looking back toward his older brother.

Like some supernatural forces parted them, the brothers moved out of the way, giving Donnie a clear line of sight to April.

"That's great, but she doesn't have…"

As soon as his eyes landed on her his sentence trailed off and his mouth hung open. His eyes darted from her hair to her face, down to her exposed covered shoulders and collarbone.

She felt herself flush under his gaze, and hoped with the extra exposed skin it wasn't too noticeable.

He looked much better rested than the last time she had seen him, and the split lip was all but gone. She saw all this, but she could only focus on his eyes. His gaze was so intense she had to fight back the urge to shiver. Donnie had never looked at her like that before, and she felt completely trapped in his eyes.

April didn't know how long they stood like that, oblivious to everything around them, but the others certainly noticed, based on the loud throat clear that came from Casey.

Donatello was the first to look away.

"Y-you look…n-nice." He stuttered looking somewhere near her legs.

_Just like that awkward, stuttering, Donnie has returned._

"Her and Casey have a date!" Mikey said happily, earning a glare from Leo.

Raphael stomped on his foot.

"Ow! Stubby!" Mikey screamed and grabbed at his foot, hopping around the room in pain.

Inwardly wincing, April looked at Donnie just in time to see his face fall, only to instantly recover. She's pretty sure she was the only one who noticed the quick reaction before he hid it.

"Oh?" He said, voice much higher than usual.

"Yeah, we're going to go see that new Lizard apocalypse movie." Casey said, leveling a steady gaze at the turtle.

Donnie nodded once and turned away from the group, his fists clenched at his sides. "Well have a good time." He said quietly, before quickly retreating in the direction of his lab.

April instinctively took a step after him, but stopped herself before she could go any further.

_I can only make this worse. Why did I think coming down here would be a good idea?_

She felt her heart breaking, instantly hating herself for putting Donnie through this.

Casey's words from yesterday came to her about letting Donnie down easy, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was right. The way things are now all she was going to do is cause him more pain.

She could never give him what he needs.

April glanced at his two older brothers and saw them looking in the direction of the lab, worry plastered on their faces.

_Seems like I just ruined everyone's night…_

The fact of the matter was, she wasn't going to let Donnie down easy; especially not after the look he had just given her. Call her selfish, but April was not willing to lose Donnie, and she knew if she ever told him there was no hope, their relationship would be over. She was too much of a coward to face him knowing that would be the outcome.

His gaze told her all she needed to know about how strong his feelings for her really were.

Donatello was in love with her.

This realization scared her more than Karai or the Kraang ever had.

She didn't know how to handle the situation, but she knew she couldn't break his heart completely. Doing that to him was unthinkable and unforgivable.

Donnie didn't deserve that. Donnie didn't derserve her…

Besides, deep down, she knew that telling him there was no hope wouldn't be entirely true.

And she could never lie to her best friend.

* * *

April found it extremely difficult to focus for the rest of the evening. Her mind kept wondering to her new problems, and internally she was dealing with a very complicated mix of emotions.

The movie wasn't very good, and it struggled to hold her attention. The plot made absolutely no sense, but Casey seemed completely enthralled by all the blood and action.

She did have to admit though, the special effects were very good.

Her biggest issue was how she kept empathizing with the giant lizard creatures that were supposedly trying to take over the world. To April it just seemed like they were trying to survive and stop their species from dying out. They never seemed to be trying to harm humans. They only defended themselves when people attacked them.

Just because they looked scary and different, people assumed they were evil.

At the end of the movie, the lizard creatures were all wiped out by a biological weapon specific to their physiology.

The audience cheered as the couple on screen kissed and celebrated the mass extinction.

April just felt sad.

"Man that was awesome!" Casey exclaimed as they left the theater. "They really taught those lizard freaks not to mess with the human race!"

April cringed at his use of the word "freak."

_What would he do if he knew I wasn't human?_

This thought struck April hard. She didn't know how Casey would react is he found out she was a mutant. The very idea of it scared her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She shook her head, trying to clear her troubled thoughts, and directed her attention back towards Casey.

"Of course. Sorry, I was just thinking." She said, plastering a smile on her face.

"Hmm." He said, scanning her face. "You seem to be zoning out a lot lately."

She was about to answer, when suddenly her head was filled with the overwhelming feeling that they were being watched.

Instantly on alert, she scanned the rooftops for enemies.

Casey noticed immediately. "What is it?"

"I think we're being watched."

He looked around, going into a battle stance himself. "Let's keep moving and see if it follows."

She nodded in agreement, and they moved down the sidewalk.

April felt Casey's arm go around her shoulders after a few paces. She tensed under his touch and shot him a look.

"Relax. I'm just acting natural." He whispered into her ear, his breath moving through her hair.

That didn't help her relax at all…

"Still watching us?"

April extended her senses and still felt the presence somewhere above them. She couldn't explain it, but it didn't feel like it meant them harm.

"Yeah." She whispered. "But I don't think we're in any danger."

Casey gave her a strange look, but shrugged one shoulder, having faith in her senses.

They walked on, Casey's arm still in place around her shoulder, and an anonymous watcher somewhere above them. What they had an interest in, April had no idea.

She did take some comfort in the heavy weight of Casey's arm though. It was nice to know he was there with her, in case the stalker did turn out to be an enemy.

As they approached April's aunt's place, she became more and more uneasy. She couldn't decide if it was the watcher, or something else entirely triggering her senses.

Trusting her instincts she stopped walking, forcing Casey to also halt. He gave her a questioning look as she dragged him into the nearest alleyway.

"What's up?" He whispered.

"I don't really know. I just know there's nothing good up there."

Casey peered around the alley's entrance towards April's building. "I don't see anything…"

"Trust me."

Casey glanced at her, sighed, and looked around the corner again. He was only watching for a few moments before he quickly ducked back behind the wall.

"What?" April asked.

"Two alien robot guys in suits are in the next alley. I think they're waiting to jump us."

"Told you." April smirked, proud of her senses.

"Yeah, yeah. You're a bonafide magician… let's double back around by rooftop and go underground for awhile." He said, heading for the nearest fire escape.

"Sounds like a plan." She said joining him.

"You will not be executing the plan of which you speak." The familiar kraang droid voice said, from the alley entrance.

April and Casey froze, their backs to the new foe.

"Kraang has located in this place the human known as April O'Neil in this place." The voice said, letting April know there was more than one of them. "The human known as April O'Neil will turn to face Kraang, or Kraang will shoot the human known as April O'Neil and the human known as Casey Jones."

April and Casey slowly turned to find themselves face to face with four Kraang droids all pointing laser blasters at them. Casey instinctively reached behind him, only to find he didn't have any of his weapons on him tonight.

"So… have any ideas, Red?" Casey asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"Just one." April replied.

Praying she aimed correctly, April pulled her tessen out of her back pocket and in one smooth motion sent it flying towards the Kraang. Laser shots fired. April threw herself to the ground, hoping Casey followed suit.

She watched as her tessen flew true, flying in a wide arc and effectively taking out three of the four laser blasters, sending them scattering to the ground in the alley.

Casey, always quick on his feet, jumped up and ran at the fourth still armed droid, using the momentary confusion to kick the blaster out of its arms.

"Kraang, it appears that Kraang has been stripped of the weapon that Kraang was once in possession of."

"Kraang can see what Kraang has said."

April scrambled to her feet and ran for her tessen, picking it up just in time to deliver a hit to a droid reaching for its blaster, making it fall back from the weapon once again.

There was a loud grunt as Casey was thrown against the brick wall of the alley; he fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Casey!" She cried.

Suddenly alone, April put herself in a battle stance, grateful that the Kraang needed her alive.

The four droids retrieved their blasters and started advancing on her, only to have two of them crumble like tin cans as a heavy weight landed on them from above.

"Donnie!" April had never been so glad to see him, and had to mentally applaud his entrance.

Confused by the sudden appearance of a new enemy, the two remaining Kraang droids fanned out and rapidly starting shooting lasers.

April ducked down and blocked the lasers coming in her direction with her tessen, sending the blasts flying harmlessly into the bricks.

She watched as Donnie agilely avoided the lasers in all sorts of complicated flips and rolls that honestly didn't seem possible, especially for someone of his size. He made his way to the first droid and instantly disarmed it with a flying kick. Following up with an unbelievably strong hit with his staff to the droid's head, causing the whole apparatus to spark and bend at an unnatural angle.

The whole droid started convulsing.

With one more solid hit with the bo staff, the head came clean off, making the robot fall to the ground, immobile.

Glancing back towards the second droid, April saw its blaster aimed solidly at Donnie.

Without thinking she sent her tessen flying. It hit its mark with the sound of metal on metal, just as it unleashed a laser, sending the shot harmlessly over Donnie's left shoulder.

She sighed in relief.

Donnie spun to face the second droid, spinning his staff in all sorts of complicated motions. He ran at the enemy, vaulting gracefully over the alien, only to swing back and kick it hard in the back, sending it careening into the far wall of the alley.

It righted itself, only to be pummeled by a series of kicks and staff hits back against the wall.

Releasing the blade on his staff, Donnie stabbed the robot through the chest pinning it to the wall, once again sending sparks flying.

Three squishy pink aliens popped out of the droids scattered on the ground and scurried out of the alley. Only leaving the one Donnie had trapped against the wall. She could see it trying to escape the suit, but Donnie kept pushing it back in, not at all gently.

He glanced back towards her. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah." She answered, snapping back to reality. "Oh man, Casey!"

She ran over to his prone body and turned him over, fearing the worst.

Thankfully, he was still breathing, just knocked out cold. She thought he should wake up soon, probably with a killer headache.

"Is he okay?" Donnie asked, keeping his eyes on his captive alien.

"Yes. I think he's just knocked out."

He didn't reply, just narrowed his eyes and readjusted his grip on the staff, making a few more sparks fly from the ruined droid.

"Why do you want April?" Donnie asked through clenched teeth.

"The turtle will not get Kranng to speak about Kraang's plans!" The droid responded. The pink blob of an alien tried to scurry away from the damaged suit again, but Donnie hit it hard and shoved it back into its place.

"What are you and the Foot planning?" Donnie asked calmly, menace practically dripping off his words.

April stared at him in disbelief. She had never seen him act this way. Everything about his posture, presence, and voice was oozing violence. It was hard to believe that this was her sweet, passive Donnie.

He was reminding her more of Raphael.

It took a moment for the alien to respond. "Kraang will never tell of Kraang's operation with the organization known as the Foot Clan."

"What operation?"

"The operation Kraang will never tell the turtles of, the operation known as Operation Clean Slate."

"Clean Slate?" April said, stepping up next to Donnie.

This alien was obviously more talkative than it claimed to be.

"The human known as April O'Neil must be secure before the beginning of the operation known as Clean Slate's beginning." The alien rambled on, making April's head hurt.

"Yeah fine, but what is Operation Clean Slate?" Donnie growled out, getting frustrated with the alien's annoying way of speaking.

The droid didn't answer.

Instead the alien at its core let out a screech and clamped its jaws down over Donnie's right hand. The turtle let out a very _unmanly _scream and flailed his hand, sending the pink brain blob flying into a couple of trash cans with a loud clatter.

The pair watched as the kraang got up, hissed in their general direction, and crawled away into the street.

"Ow!" Donnie whined, inspecting his injured thumb. "Stupid aliens! Why does a blob need such sharp teeth anyway?!" He yelled at no one in particular.

April grabbed his hand, bringing it up to inspect his injury. "Stop being such a baby."

A tiny row of blood droplets began to form on the outside of his thumb where he was bitten. It was basically just a scratch.

"I think you'll live." She joked, looking up from the wound.

Dropping his hand, she became more serious. "What do you think Operation Clean Slate is?"

Donatello stared at the entrance of the alley, eyes unfocused. "I don't know. And why do you need to be _secure _before it begins?" He looked up and met her eyes, the worry bared for the world to see.

"No idea." She answered. "But I have a very bad feeling about it."

After a few moments of contemplation, Donnie sheathed his staff on his back and walked over to the still unconscious Casey. He gently reached out and slapped the teen's cheeks a few times, obviously trying to wake him up.

There was no reaction.

"He's out cold…" Donnie said, surprise evident in his voice. "I guess it can't be helped." He mumbled to himself under his breath.

The turtle grabbed Casey, picked him up, and threw him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, looking none too pleased with the situation.

April giggled at the sight, imagining what Casey would have to say about this if he were awake.

He shot her a quick glare, daring her to say something. "We should really get him inside somewhere."

April composed herself, and nodded. "We can take him to my aunt's apartment, she's away until tomorrow on her business trip."

"Meet you there."

Quickly, Donnie climbed the fire escape with his heavy load, Casey dangling precariously from his shoulder. He made it look easy, like he wasn't carrying close to two hundred pounds of dead weight.

April took the more conventional route of the street, keeping a close eye out for more Kraang droids.

The coast was clear.

She practically ran the block to her building, knowing Donnie was watching from above made her not worry so much about being ambushed again. Sprinting up the steps, she slammed her key home, and opened the door, letting out a relieved breath once safely inside with the door locked behind her.

Rushing to her bedroom window, she unlatched it to find Donnie waiting for her on the fire escape.

He entered the room, hesitated a second, glancing at her unmade bed, and promptly walked out, still carrying an unconscious Casey with him. Confused as to his destination, April followed and watched as the turtle deposited his passenger on her aunt's couch.

"You know you could have just put him in the bed…" April pointed out.

Donnie shook his head, but looked away. "He's better off here." He said simply.

Shrugging, April went to the kitchen to get ice for Casey's head. When she returned, Donnie was leaning against the far wall, as far from the couch as possible.

April gently lifted the hockey players head, and placed the icepack underneath, where a nice lump was forming at the back of his skull. She brushed a few strands of hair off his forehead and settled him down into the pillows.

"So how was your date?" Donnie asked, his voice tight.

In the quiet room the unexpected question made her jump, the content making her feel oddly uncomfortable for some reason.

She looked over at the turtle, only to see him looking everywhere but at her, trying to look bored and uninterested.

By the way he was tapping his foot though; she knew he was anything but uninterested.

"Well, the movie was awful, I almost got kidnapped, and my date ended up unconscious…" She said dryly. "I think it went pretty good for a first date."

Donnie's head whipped around to face her. "First? T-there will be more?"

April rolled her eyes. "I don't know Donnie…Don't you think there are more important things we can be talking about? Like why you were following us?"

His eyes widened and he froze like a deer in headlights. "W-wh-what? I wasn't following…following is such a negative word….I was just p-patrolling.."

She held up a hand to silence his protests. "Relax, I'm actually not mad. I can't say I won't be later, but right now I don't care. You saved us…again. If you hadn't been there I'd be a prisoner and Casey might be dead. Thank you, Donnie…I mean that."

Donnie relaxed a little, finding her words hard to believe.

"But don't think you can get away with this all the time. I'm just feeling generous."

He smiled slightly. "Thanks, April."

"Don't mention it." She smiled back and laughed. "And between you and me, the date was pretty awful."

A grin erupted on his face at her confession. "It wasn't a complete loss, we learned a little bit more about the Kraang plot…and you do look really nice…purple looks really good on you."

April froze, and blushed bright scarlet.

Donnie took a moment to realize what he had said. "Oh geez! I didn't mean purple looked better than anything else on you, you'd look great in anything. Well not anything obviously…I didn't like you in black, but yellow is definitely a favorite of mine. Not that I'm noticing how you look, unless you want me to of course…and I'm…going to shut up now."

She was sure his head was about to explode if anymore blood rushed to it.

"That would be best." April laughed at him. She loved how flustered he got over the tiniest things. Honestly, his social awkwardness was just too much sometimes.

Feeling bold, she continued. "And thanks for the compliment. I think I look good in purple too…I may have to wear it more often."

She could have sworn he stopped breathing as he stared at her, a slow smile replacing his embarrassed pout.

_Am I seriously sitting here kind of flirting with Donnie?_

A small moan from the coach made April break the moment and turn her attention to Casey. He seemed to be finally waking up.

"April? Did I take a stick to the head or something?" He asked groggily, cracking his eyes open.

Thrilled at her friend's improvement, she caught sight of the time, glowing bright green on the cable box under the television. It read 12:08.

It was after midnight. It was a brand new day.

"Hey, Donnie?"

After a few heartbeats he responded. "Hmm?"

"Happy Mutation Day."

* * *

**A/N**

So many different emotional states! So much angst!

Okay, I'm not at all satisfied with this chapter, but like I said, I'm giving up and moving on. I can't stress enough how much I want to strangle April here, and I guess that means I'm writing her character right haha.

Next will be the mutation day celebration! YAY! (Probably around this time next week)

Also...Kraang dialogue is unbelievably difficult to write!


	9. Celebration

**A/N**

Hi everyone! Let me begin by saying how sorry I am for missing a whole week of updates. I only get Thursdays off every week and last Thursday I had to go car shopping so I had no time to write.

Sometimes things are just beyond our control. (Yes, I just quoted Donnie.)

I attempted to make up for it by making this chapter SUPER long.

Anyway, like always thanks for all the kind reviews! I can't believe I have over 100 reviews! LOVE YOU GUYS!

This chapter is a lot of fluff and fun times. Honestly, it was super fun to write and I think it may be one of my favorites so far. It is a birthday celebration after all. Don't expect much plot until the end, and it gets a little heavy towards the end as well.

LOTS OF FLUFF! I swear these two practically write themselves. But they are so frustrating! Worst ship ever! :)

ENJOY!

* * *

The morning after the date incident, April found herself doing something she never dreamed she'd do again.

She was skipping school.

After being forced to miss so much school when she was living down in the sewers with the guys, she made a promise to herself to try and go as much as possible. This meant whenever her life wasn't in immediate danger from alien abduction or assassinations.

Which, now that she thought about it, was kind of never.

But today she just had way too much to do, and school could wait.

It was the turtles' _birthday_!

Well… mutation day, but to April it was essentially the same thing.

This day marked the 16th year of the turtles becoming anthropomorphic and turning into the amazing guys and heroes they are today. It was also the first one of their birthdays that they could celebrate with someone other than each other and their father, so she was determined to make it a mutation day that they would never forget.

And this meant an awful lot of preparation with not a lot of time to do it in.

Donnie had left her Aunt's apartment the previous night about an hour after midnight, escorting a very groggy Casey home. Her human friend seemed fine, just a little tired and sore after his run in with the wall. Donnie assured her Casey would be fine though, saying something about surviving way too many pucks to the head to have something like that even phase him.

April trusted Donnie to know if it was serious or not, and knew he would take good care of Casey for her, so her worrying was eased a bit by his nonchalant attitude.

Once the boys were gone and April was alone, she instantly started planning for the morning; only to fall asleep before she could even make a list. So she spent the entirety of the next day running around the city, shopping for gifts and decorations, and gathering supplies.

She also enlisted the assistance of Mr. Murikami, who more than graciously agreed to provide food for the party.

A large portion of her time was spent hauling bags of her purchases down into the sewer and into the lair.

It was times like these that she wished she had Casey to carry stuff for her…

Luckily, when she started to bring things down, it seemed that the lair's residents were all still asleep. April knew she wasn't going to be able to set everything up before they awakened, but some part of her still wanted her efforts to be a little bit of a surprise.

The turtles were always doing so much for her, on such grand levels, and it was so rare that she got to return the favor. She really wanted to show them that she cared, and this seemed like a good step in the right direction.

Pulling out a roll of streamers, she immediately got to work on the decorating.

Not being able to decide on a single color for the streamers, April had gone with the next best option. Red, purple, orange, and blue, representing each brother respectively.

As she hung the bright paper around the room, she began to hum Happy Birthday subconsciously. It was strange how excited she was to celebrate the guy's mutation day.

_It'll be nice to have a night with no fighting or injuries for once. Just good old fashioned hanging out._

Standing up on an old crate, April was attempting to fasten the end of a purple and orange streamer that she had twisted together over the doorway to Donnie's lab. Unfortunately, she was about two inches too short to reach the right spot, even with the help of the crate.

The muscles in her shoulders protested as she stretched, trying to miraculously make herself taller.

A groan of frustration escaped her throat. What she wouldn't give for a good step ladder.

_Sometimes I hate being short._

She stretched herself for another attempt, raising herself up onto her toes, balanced precariously on the edge of the crate.

A green hand shot into her vision, taking the streamer, and guiding it effortlessly into the right place, securing it with a piece of tape.

April was so surprised by the unexpected assistance that she lost her balance, and felt the crate begin to tip over from all her weight resting on one edge. She let out a small yelp and began to flail her arms in an attempt to right the crate once more.

"Woah, easy there." She heard Donnie say from right behind her. At the same time, the crate fell back into place, easing April's fear of falling on her face.

Once sure she wasn't going to fall, April glanced down at her makeshift footstool to see Donnie's foot placed on the opposite edge, keeping it in place.

He had once again stopped her from falling.

She would never get tired of that.

The turtle laughed a bit nervously. "Sorry, if I scared you." He said. "You just looked like you were struggling a bit with that." He gestured to the streamer, and April smiled at him.

Up on the crate she didn't have to look up to see his face. It was weird being on the same level as him.

"Yeah, thanks. It sucks being so short sometimes. You're lucky you're tall."

"That's what I'm here for… getting things off high shelves, and handy when it comes to hanging things." He joked.

"Being the tallest comes with some down sides." April got down off her crate, so she once again had to crane her neck to see his face.

"I wasn't always the tallest you know." Donnie said unexpectantly.

"Really?"

"Yup, up until about two years ago, Leo was always the tallest. I was always around the same height as Mikey growing up."

"You're joking…"

"It's true. Then I hit a massive growth spurt, and bam, I towered over Leo…I actually think I'm still growing. It's actually quite incredible how much variation was present in our mutations even though we were all exposed to the mutagen at the same time under the same circumstances. One day I would actually love to figure out the properties of the mutagen and how it reacts to certain stimuli."

Donnie began to ramble about genetic diversity and different turtle species.

April laughed imagining a very distraught Leonardo realizing his little brother's new height. It was even funnier to imagine Raph's reaction to the height difference. "The mutagen definitely works in mysterious ways." She started to dig in a bag of decorating supplies. "Good for you though, I've always liked taller guys."

It took April about half a second to realize she said that out loud.

She clapped a hand over her mouth and turned away from Donnie, so embarrassed she could die, way too embarrassed to look at him.

_Did I really just say that?_

He remained silent, so April decided to pretend it never happened, like the couple of times Donnie had slipped up in front of her. Surely she was allowed to have _one _dumb moment…

"W-what are you doing awake at this hour anyway?" She hurried on. "Shouldn't you be asleep, especially after the night you had?"

It took him a few seconds to form a response. "You know I barely sleep, and I had a project I really needed to work on before today."

She could almost hear the grin in his words, making her even more upset. He was enjoying her discomfort with the situation.

"That's not good for you. And don't think I forgot about you following me last night!" Grasping onto that thought, April saw her way out, and spun poking her finger into Donnie's plastron. "I'm definitely going to have a few words with you about that when it's _not_ your birthday!"

Donatello raised his hands in surrender, small smile still on his face. "Okay, Okay. What are you doing anyway?"

His question reminded her of everything she still had to do, and she felt her emotions level out again. "Decorating, of course."

"I can see that…but why?" Donnie asked eye ridge raised in confusion.

"For your mutation day! What else?"

He glanced around at all the streamers she had already put up and her small pile of supplies over by the couch. "You know you don't have to do this. Mikey's the only one that really cares about this, and it seems like you went through an awful lot of trouble…"

"I want to! You guys deserve a real birthday party, and I'm going to make it happen."

He shrugged one shoulder in defeat. "Okay. But don't go too crazy. Really, we don't want to put you out."

"Seriously Donnie, I _want_ to do this for you. You may even have a good time." Her voice was gentle as she teased him.

"Fine, I'll talk to Splinter about keeping the guys busy today so you can prepare or do whatever you need to do. Just call if you need some help." He glanced around again. "Oh, and keep Mikey away from that helium tank. I just know he wouldn't be able to resist that."

The thought of hyperactive Michelangelo with a chipmunk voice made her laugh and then shudder. It would be awful and kind of terrifying…

"Absolutely. Thanks, Donnie."

Satisfied, he stepped around her into his lab, pausing before he slid the door closed. "By the way…" He looked at the ground, and seemed to prepare himself for whatever he was about to say. "You're c-cute when you're embarrassed."

The door slid shut with an echoing clunk, a blushing April, her mouth hanging open, left confused on the other side.

Donatello seemed to be gaining confidence around her, and for some reason that made her a little nervous.

* * *

Master Splinter did just as Donnie had promised, and kept the boys busy in the dojo most of the day while April finished setting up.

With the exception of Michelangelo of course.

The orange clad turtle kept popping up sporadically throughout the day, and watching April fill balloons or hang things. April could tell he was practically vibrating with excitement and eager to begin his first birthday celebration ever.

The other brothers seemed a little less enthused about her plans.

Leonardo politely thanked her for her efforts, but like Donnie was quick to tell her it was unnecessary. For some reason, both brothers felt guilty about April going through trouble to just do something nice for them.

_They are both way too noble for their own good._

Raph, on the other hand, emerged from his room earlier in the day, glanced around at the brightly colored streamers and balloons, rolled his eyes, and turned around and went back to his room. April guessed some enthusiasm from Raphael would be the last thing she should've expected.

In the early evening, April stepped back to survey her work, finally satisfied with her decorating efforts.

Behind her, she heard the familiar sound of the lair turnstile, signaling Casey's arrival.

He was weighed down with various boxes and bags. They were piled so high, April couldn't see his face behind them.

She had asked him to swing by Mr. Murikami's on his way down to pick up the food, and judging by the sheer volume Casey carried, it looked like the blind chef had seriously outdone himself.

Casey threw down all the bags and let out a loud sigh of relief. "Man, I never thought I would get here! That old man must think he's feeding an army or something!" He groaned and cracked his back.

"Well he is feeding five teenage boys…that's kind of the same thing." April chuckled, putting the leftover decorating supplies in her bags.

"Ha, ha." Casey said sarcastically.

He whistled as he glanced around the room. "Wow, Red. You really outdid yourself here. The place looks like a party store exploded!"

April cringed and looked around the room at all the bright colors and balloons. She may have gone a tad bit overboard, but she had fifteen years to make up for, and she knew Mikey, at least, would love it.

"Thanks, that's exactly what I was going for…" She looked Casey over, this being the first time she had seen him since he left last night with Donnie.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, concerned.

"Awesome." He said, giving her a slow grin. "Don't worry, babe. I've been knocked out more than once before."

Somehow April didn't doubt that, and she chose to ignore the "babe" comment for now.

"Good. I was worried about you last night. If Donnie hadn't shown up when he did…" She said.

Casey's face scrunched up at her mention of Donatello. "Leave it to the science nerd to have amazing heroic entrance skills. Why was he there anyway?"

April paused. She couldn't exactly tell Casey that he was spying on their date. There was no way he would be as understanding about it as she was, especially after their whole "You need to let him down easy" talk the other day.

"Um..I guess he was just on patrol in the area. It was just an incredible lucky coincidence." She said, glancing back to her decorations.

"Riiight." Casey was clearly not entirely convinced. "Whatever. I need to go back for the cake. Be back in a few."

"Okay." April sighed in relief as he turned and headed out of the lair.

That was not a conversation she was looking forward to pursuing with Casey. To be honest she didn't know if she was interested in pursuing anything with Casey. Maybe the ending to their first attempt at a real date last night was a sign. Maybe they were just meant to be good friends, and asking for more was just asking for trouble.

Relationships were complicated…

Shaking her head to clear her random thoughts, April began to dig through the bags Casey had brought. She was surprised to find four packages messily wrapped in newspaper that were obviously gifts to the turtles.

Casey had gotten them gifts.

She smiled at the image of him wrapping a gift for Donnie. Somehow she found the very idea extremely funny. The idea of him getting any of the turtles presents was entertaining.

Carefully, she removed the presents and carried them over to the pinball machine where her own neatly wrapped gifts sat.

After unpacking the food, April glanced around the room and realized she was finished. All the room was officially missing were the birthday boys.

Ready to begin the festivities, she headed towards the Dojo.

Entering the room, she walked straight into Mikey, nearly taking both of them to the ground. Righting herself, she realized all four of the turtles were standing just in the doorway to the dojo, clearly waiting for her to come get them. Upon seeing her all of them, except Mikey, turned and tried to act like they were doing something else, but April wasn't fooled.

They were like a group of kids on Christmas morning, and it was pretty adorable.

"April! Are you done?" Mikey asked excitedly. "Can we go see it now?"

She giggled as she saw the others glance her way, awaiting her response as well.

"Sure, guys. Happy Mutation Day!" She yelled, extending her arms towards the common room, inviting them to go take a look for themselves.

Mikey ran out of the room first, to no surprise, quickly followed by his brothers.

"NO WAY!" Mikey screamed. "Look at all the colors!"

April giggled and followed the others into the room.

Mikey was darting around the room looking at everything April had done at lightning speed. His nonstop talking and excited squealing became hard to follow, so she turned her attention to the more subdued turtles standing in the center of the room.

Raph, Donnie, and Leo's eyes were huge as they took in the room, each had a huge smile on their face, even Raphael, much to April's surprise and glee.

Every wall and surface of the common room was covered in streamers giving it an appearance of a paper forest. Various bunches of balloons in each of the turtles colors, were weighted down and floating throughout the room, with random green ones thrown in. April had even blown up a bunch of balloons by hand to just scatter them across the floor, making it so you had to kick them as you walked across the floor. The final touch was the huge "Happy Birthday" banner hanging from the spiral staircase over the couch. She had crossed out "birthday" and written "Mutation" in its place.

It was her favorite part of the room.

Maybe she had gone a little overboard, but she only had so much time to prepare, and she thought it suited the turtle's perfectly.

"So? What do you guys think?" She asked hesitantly, as Mikey was still the only one to say anything.

"It's awesome!" All three exclaimed at the same time.

Raph immediately composed himself, and corrected. "I mean, it's okay. Kind of looks like a clown threw up in here…but okay."

April smirked at Raph's slip up, unbelievably satisfied with herself.

"Gee thanks, Raph." She muttered.

Donnie punched Raphael in the arm, earning a growl from the turtle. "Okay? This is great. I can't believe you had the time to pull this off, and by yourself! I had no idea you had all this planned. Thanks, April."

She gave Donnie a heartfelt grin. "You're welcome, Donnie."

"Yeah, April. We never had anything like this before." Leo chimed in. "Thank you, I know Mikey must absolutely love this."

"Ha. What gave you that idea?" Donnie said, watching his little brother inspect the presents on the pinball machine, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Hey, I know you guys didn't start the party without me!" Casey yelled from the entrance, carrying a big white box.

Mikey's eyes got impossibly wide as he spotted the box, and he practically skipped over to Casey.

"Is that a cake?" He asked, bursting with excitement.

"Maybe." Casey responded.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey screamed. "A real cake! Best. Mutation. Day. EVER!"

Laughing, April took the cake from Casey and walked it to the kitchen. Listening to the guys greet and joke with Casey along the way.

So far, it seemed like the Mutation Day Celebration would be a success.

As she put the cake in the refrigerator, she heard someone enter the kitchen behind her. Turning she was surprised to find Master Splinter.

"Greetings, April."

She bowed respectfully towards her teacher. "Sensei."

"It appears you have been very busy today putting together a great surprise for my sons."

"Hai, Sensei." April answered. "I wanted to do something nice for them. It's not like they aren't always helping me out in huge ways. This is the least I can do."

"This gesture means much more to the turtles and myself than you will ever understand, April." Splinter responded. "I have always tried to provide them with the most normal life possible, but some of the simplest things I was unable to give…like a birthday party with friends for instance." He smiled at her. "You have my gratitude for caring about my boys enough to give them this. No matter how small it may seem to you, it means the world to us all."

He bowed to her, and upon rising took her shoulders in his hands. "You are by far one the best things to have ever happened to my family, April, and I am proud to have you as a pupil."

April felt her eyes tear up at Splinter's praise. She had only ever heard this much emotion from him when he was talking about his late wife and daughter.

"Arigato, Sensei." She said, sincerely. "You are all some of the best things to ever happen to me as well."

Nodding, he gave her shoulders a light squeeze and released her just as Donnie entered the kitchen. The rat glanced at his son, then back to April, a small smile on his face. "Enjoy your party. I will be in the dojo meditating."

Donnie looked confused at the emotion still present in his father's voice. He raised an eye ridge at April, silently asking what happened between them.

She shook her head and mouthed the word "later."

"You are more than welcome to join the party, sensei." April invited.

"Thank you, but I believe my sons have had fifteen years of celebrating with me. Tonight I believe it would be best for them to spend time with their friends." He cringed as music started playing from the living room. "Besides, this teenager music does not seem to agree with me.."

April giggled at his joke.

On his way out of the kitchen Splinter placed a hand on Donnie's shoulder. "Happy Birthday, my son."

Donatello smiled at his adopted father. "Thank you, sensei."

Once they were alone, Donnie turned his attention immediately to April. "What was that about?"

"Nothing, really. He was just thanking me for putting this together."

"Really, April you didn't have to.."

"Don't you dare say I didn't have to do this." April cut in. "Can't I just do something nice for my best friends? I care about you guys and I really just wanted to throw you a birthday party." Her annoyance ebbed, and her voice softened. "I know you aren't used to people doing anything for you, especially just because they wanted to, but trust me, I wanted to do this. It really isn't that big of a deal."

His face heated a bit, but he nodded, excepting her words. "Okay…well just…thank you…I guess."

She lightly punched him in the arm. "And stop thanking me!"

He laughed and rubbed at the spot on his arm.

"Pizza gyoza _and_ pizza!" Mikey's voice yelled from the living room. "BEST. MUTATION. DAY. EVER!"

"Hey! Leave some for the rest of us!" Raph yelled, followed by a cry of pain from the younger turtle.

"We better get out there before all the food is gone…" April said worried.

She attempted to hide the pizza related food the best she could, but she was obviously no match for Mikey's pizza sensing abilities.

She wrapped her arm around Donnie's and dragged him out of the kitchen. He immediately tensed at the contact, unsure of her intentions, but relaxed when he realized she was just leading him back to the common room.

The group of boys was gathered around the food table, piling their plates high with all of Murikami's creations. The chef had made a lot of different things for the party, but he had made the Pizza Gyoza in excess for obvious reasons. April had even had Casey swing by and pick up a normal pizza with all of Mikey's ridiculous toppings for the occasion.

They were definitely not short on food.

"Mr. Murikami is the best!" Mikey garbled through a mouthful of food as he shoveled another gyoza in his mouth.

"I invited him down for the party, but he couldn't get anyone to watch the restaurant this short notice." April explained.

"We're definitely going to have to pay him a visit to thank him." Leo said, reaching over and taking a gyoza off of Raph's plate while he wasn't looking.

Raph looked down and noticed the missing potsticker, and immediately stabbed Mikey in the hand with his chopsticks, thinking him the culprit.

"Ow! What did I do?!" Mikey yelled spraying food chunks everywhere.

"You know what you did!" Raph said piling some noodles on his dish.

Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph. Donnie moved one of his gyoza from his plate to Mikey's immediately making his little brother cheer up.

April couldn't help but be entertained by the brother's interactions. They had such great relationships and balanced each other out so well. Sometimes it made April sad that she was an only child and never got to have this kind of a bond with a sibling.

"Hurry April, or you're not going to get anything." Donnie interrupted her thoughts.

She seriously doubted they would run out of food, even with the way these five ate, but she grabbed a plate and started filling it anyway; eager to have some of Murikami-san's cooking.

Once her plate was filled, albeit not as full as any of the guys, she placed herself on the couch between Leo and Donnie, and dug in. Of course everything was delicious, not that she expected it to be anything but.

The teens ate surrounded by comfortable banter and chatter. April couldn't remember the last time she had a meal sitting down surrounded by people like this, and it was extremely pleasant. She didn't realize how much she missed moments like this with her father, or even from when she was living down in the lair. When she stayed down here for those few weeks, they would often have "family" dinners. They usually constituted of takeout pizza, but the conversation and warmth surrounding the table was always nice.

There was nothing quite like a meal surrounded by the people you care about.

Once they were all done eating, April thought it was a good time to unveil her big surprise. She got up from the couch, and headed over to a large box she had stowed over in the corner of the room.

"Okay, guys. Ready for some party games?" She asked.

"Please don't tell me we're going to play pin the tail on the donkey now." Raph groaned.

She rolled her eyes at him, flicked open the case and pulled out the contents. "Not exactly." She said confidently.

All the guy's eyes widened at what she had in her hand.

It was a small paintball gun.

"Where did you get that?" Donnie stood and came over to inspect it.

"My dad's friend's son manages a paintball place…it took some convincing, but he let me borrow some equipment." She pulled out another gun. "I have one for each of us. I thought we could make a little competition out of it."

Raphael jumped to his feet. "Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about! BEST MUTATION DAY EVER!"

"Yeah! Let's do this!" Casey joined in, giving Raph a high five.

Donnie looked at her a little worried. "Are you sure this is a good idea. Don't paintballs hurt?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously? We're all vigilantes here. I think we can take a little paintball stinging."

He didn't look entirely convinced, but conceded to her judgement.

"Alright, I'm thinking two man teams. Random pick?" Leo took control of the organization.

Everyone agreed, and April put everyone's name in a cup so they could pick partners.

Leo went first and pulled out Mikey's name, then Donnie picked out Raphael, leaving April and Casey together.

Donnie looked at April with worry again. "You want us to repick?"

"No, why?" April answered.

Leo responded. "No offense guys, but we're ninjas…you don't really have too much of a chance here."

Casey's hackles rose at the assault on his ego. "We'll see shell boy. Paintball is a whole different game to those swords you swing around."

"We're going to wipe the floor with you and you know it." Raph said, laughing.

Honestly, April knew they didn't stand a chance, but she also knew Casey would never admit that. The only thing they could do was go through with it.

"This is fine." She said, ending the discussion, and accepting her fate.

She handed out the guns and safety gear. The turtles all refused the goggles and facemasks, choosing instead to take their chances.

They all agreed to take the game into the sewer tunnels instead of risking Master Splinter's wrath in the lair, and headed out in five minute intervals into the tunnels with their partners.

To say Casey and April got their butts kicked would be a serious understatement.

It took about five minutes for April to realize that the guys took the whole competition thing way too seriously.

She now also completely understood the "ninjas use the shadows" and "stealth" nonsense that Master Splinter was always talking about. The turtles seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and neither one of them could ever see them coming.

If there is one thing she learned from the experience, it was that paintballs _did_ hurt. They didn't just sting; they hurt, and she knew she would be covered in bruises tomorrow.

At last count, April believed she was hit about fifteen times, and Casey was even worse for the wear, making her believe they were going easy on her.

Donnie even hit her a few times, each time he was extremely apologetic about it though. She couldn't decide if it was condescending or sweet.

Overall, it was the most nerve racking, and stressful half hour of her life.

Once they all regrouped back at the lair, the winners were clearly Donnie and Raph.

Donnie had only been hit about five times, once by April while he was apologizing to her, once by Casey, and three blue dots marked Leo's handiwork. Raph had only been hit twice, once by Leo, and an Orange dot on his chest from Mikey.

Leo wasn't too bad off, just a few splats of green, red, and purple on his shell.

Mikey, Casey, and April were just masses of different colors. It looked like someone had tried to paint them they had been hit so many times, especially Casey.

"Oh yeah! Who's the master?!" Raph celebrated. "We rocked, dude!" He and Donnie gave each other a high three and smiled widely.

"That was so intense!" Mikey squealed. "We should suggest this to sensei for a training exercise!"

"That would be epic!" Donnie agreed.

Despite her horrible time in the tunnels, April was extremely glad the guys all seemed to enjoy themselves. She really should have thought doing something like this with highly trained ninjas wouldn't have ended well, but the whole point was for them to have fun.

So mission accomplished.

"You okay?" Donnie asked gently, right next to her.

She smiled. "Yeah, you guys just took that a little more seriously than I thought you would." She laughed. "It was a little overwhelming."

Donnie smirked and gave her an understanding look. "We have always taken competition kind of crazy; I think it's a brother rivalry thing."

"Well, next time I think I'll sit it out." She laughed.

Mikey suddenly ran up and gave her a paint smeared hug. "Thanks April! That was the bomb. Pizza, pizza gyoza, cake, and paintball. BEST. MUTATION DA…"

"We know MIKEY!" Raph interrupted smacking his younger brother upside the head. "Yeah, April, that was a great idea. I love an excuse to whoop Lameonardo and Casey at something." Raph pointed to the sulking human teen and laughed.

"Glad I could help, Raph." She sighed. "Now if you guys would excuse me, I need to change my clothes. I can feel the paint practically dripping off me."

* * *

Once she rejoined the guys, in fresh clothes and her skin scrubbed of most of the bright colors, they had the music blasting and a full blown dance party started in the middle of the common room.

Mikey was doing some kind of complicated break dancing routine in the middle of the floor as his brothers and Casey cheered him on from the sidelines. The young turtle was really quite a talented dancer.

When the music ended, Mikey popped up immediately and ran to her. "What now, April?"

His enthusiasm was contagious. She was glad he was having such a good time. "Hmm. How about you guys open up your gifts?"

All four of their faces lit up instantly and Mikey ran over to the wrapped packages, bouncing up and down on his feet like a five year old.

"Open mine first." Casey pushed his way through the brothers and grabbed his messy newspaper packages, handing them out to the turtles one at a time.

As soon as the gift was in his hands Mikey started frantically ripping at the paper, sending scraps flying everywhere, much to his brother's annoyance.

Underneath the paper, he quickly revealed new wheels for his skateboard.

"AH Sweet! Thanks Casey!" Mikey exclaimed, spinning the new wheels, a childish gleam in his eyes.

Leo got his gift next. He was slightly more reserved in his paper ripping, taking his time and opening along the seams. As he uncovered the gift, the leader's eyes widened. "No way! Is this Space Heroes number 6? This is the only one I don't have in my collection!"

Casey laughed. "I know, and oddly enough it was the only one I had in mine."

Leo literally hugged the comic book to his front. "Thank you."

April really hoped he didn't start to cry.

Donnie looked at his gift suspiciously, like it might bite him or explode. Slowly, he removed the paper to reveal an almost brand new wrench set. He looked at it with longing, but then glanced up at Casey questioningly.

The hockey player shrugged. "My dad gave me that for Christmas last year and I've never used the thing. You seem to have to use whatever you find, so I figured you would appreciate that more than me with all the insane stuff you build."

"Thank you." Donnie said nodding. He carefully began taking every wrench out and inspecting it, obviously itching to use them.

April was touched at how much thought Casey had obviously put into the guys gifts. He really wanted to make their day special too, in his own way.

Last and certainly not least, Casey handed Raph his package.

Raphael quickly made work of his wrapping and stared down at the item in his lap.

"You have got to be kidding me." Raph said, his voice dripping with anger.

"What?" Casey asked innocently.

"Ha ha, Casey. Now where's my real gift?"

April glanced at Raph's brothers all of them as confused as she was. "What did he give you?" April asked.

"This." He spat out and showed them a framed picture of Casey wielding a hockey stick in a threatening manner.

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey instantly burst out laughing. April had to cover her mouth to keep her own laughter in.

Raph just got angrier. "What's the deal? This isn't funny."

Casey started laughing himself. "What's wrong dude. I thought I'd give you something so you'd always remember the awesome that is Casey Jones. You can keep it next to your bed at night." He leaned back in the couch, in what was clearly his bad boy pose.

Raph's blood looked like it was going to boil over any minute his face was so red.

He launched himself across the couch and tackled Casey, the momentum forcing them both to roll over behind the couch. The sounds of a wrestling match ensued.

Raph's brothers and April just kept laughing.

Wiping a tear from her eye, April got up to retrieve her gift to the guys.

"Mine is kind of a joint gift to all of you, and Mr. Murikami helped out with it too." She placed the big box in front of the three turtles and watched as they tore into it.

Beneath the paper, the box of a brand new video game system was revealed.

"NO way!" Leo cried out.

"Awesome!" Donnie said.

"SWEET!" MIkey screamed.

Raph poked his head over the couch and spotted the box. Momentarily forgetting Casey, he got up and joined his brothers.

"Is that what I think it is?" The red clad turtle asked.

"Yup." April responded laughing at their enthusiasm. "I got you a bunch of games that I think you'd all like."

She reached into a bag and came up with a bunch of the popular video games. Most of them fighting games that she thought the ninjas would get a kick out of.

Instantly, she found herself in the center of a turtle group hug, all of them thanking her and shouting her praise.

Even Raph.

_I guess all teenage boys like video games…it's like kryptonite.  
_

"You da best April!" Mikey exclaimed summing up all the others feelings the most accurately.

"Donnie, hook this bad boy up!" Raph looked towards his brother, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Donnie looked towards April, as if he was asking permission. She nodded at him, and he started to rip the box open, obviously excited.

Within minutes, Donnie had the game system up and running, and was going through the process of setting it up, while Leo and Raph argued over what game to play first.

Meanwhile, Mikey had started the music back up and had resumed his dancing, clearly having the time of his life.

Before she could object, Mikey grabbed her and pulled her on to their makeshift dance area, jumping up and down absurdly to the music. April laughed hysterically and started jumping up and down with him.

I guess it looked like they were having a great time because soon all of them were dancing goofily, the video games forgotten.

She couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun before. It reminded her of after they had defeated the technodrome, and had celebrated in almost the same way.

And it also reminded her of how much fun it was to dance with Donnie.

Struck with the sudden desire to dance with her best friend, she glanced around and spotted Donnie. Mikey was showing him how to do a complicated looking one armed handstand spin move that looked just flat out dangerous.

Donnie seemed to agree.

She bounced her way over to her favorite turtle and grabbed his arms, pulling him towards her.

"Dance with me!" She demanded happily, lost in the fun of the moment.

He blushed, but went with her willingly enough. Despite his awkward nature, Donnie was quite a good dancer. She assumed it came from all the martial arts training, and his natural ability to be in tune with his own body.

They had barely gotten started when the music suddenly changed going from fast and upbeat to incredibly slow.

April and Donnie both stopped moving, confused by the abrupt change.

Glancing towards the stereo, April wasn't surprised to find Mikey there, a devious smirk on his face.

_The little sneak is trying to get us to dance to a slow song!_

The others had all stopped dancing and were watching them. Casey had an odd look on his face, but the others just looked curious about what would happen.

Blushing, she looked towards Donnie. He stood their awkwardly fidgeting, unsure about how or if to proceed, not looking at her.

April realized she had to make a choice here, and something told her it was about more than just dancing.

_Ah hell. It's his birthday. I can dance with my best friend.  
_

Quickly, before she could change her mind, April reached out and took Donnie's hands. His head snapped up and he met her eyes, confusion and disbelief all over his face as she placed his hands on her waist.

His hands were so big they could almost completely encircle her waist.

Tentatively, she put her hands on his shoulders and began to sway in time to the music.

Donnie followed her movements, never once looking away from her face. She watched as his face went from one of shock, to one of embarrassment, to pure elation.

She felt ridiculously warm under his gaze, and had to break the eye contact less she say or do something incredibly stupid.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Casey walk away from the group, and a small twinge of guilt ran through her. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Casey or Donnie, but no matter what she did it looked like she was going to end up hurting at least one of them…if not both.

Donnie's hands tightened slightly on her waist, and she felt her heart rate increase at the touch.

Looking back up into his face, he smiled at her, showing off his missing tooth she loved so much.

April could no longer live in denial.

She definitely had feelings for Donnie.

Did she know how deep those feeling went?

No.

Did realizing this make her any less afraid of them?

No.

Did she believe they could ever be together?

Not really.

Had she ever been this confused before?

Definitely not.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered the music stopping, but neither she nor Donnie stepped away from each other. She was way too lost in her thoughts to even consider it.

After a few seconds, the music started up again, playing another fast song. Snapping out of his own thoughts, Donnie released her waist and stepped back.

He cleared his throat once before speaking.

"I'll be in my lab." He said and turned away, almost running out of the room.

April watched him go quietly, unsure if she should follow or not. Glancing at the others, she realized they were all staring at her, some showing concern; Mikey showing confusion; Casey was nowhere to be found. They all obviously picked up on something happening between her and their brother.

Suddenly feeling very vulnerable, she crossed her arms and walked quickly over to the couch. She sat down and put her head in her hands, trying to quiet her racing mind.

She didn't know how long she sat like that, but eventually the couch dipped beside her. April peeked up to find Leo sitting next to her, his face concerned.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently.

She let out a long breath before answering. "Never better."

"Listen, I'm not going to pretend to know what just happened there, but I don't think it's going to be solved by ignoring it."

"I know. I've been ignoring it way too long, and now I feel like it's reached that point where I can't anymore." April muttered.

"Whatever you decide to you, I'm sure you will make the right decision." Leo smiled a little and stood, heading back to his brothers.

April wasn't exactly sure what decision Leo was expecting her to make. It seemed like the Hamato men were fans of giving cryptic advice. One thing she knew for sure, she had to talk to Donnie.

About what… she wasn't really sure.

Retrieving a package from the bottom of her bag, April headed towards the lab.

She found Donnie at his desk working on something that she didn't recognize. It looked tiny and metal, probably some kind of computer part or something.

Taking a deep breath, she decided it was now or never. "Um, Donnie?"

The purple clad turtle jumped in his seat, her presence surprising him. "Some ninja you are." She teased.

"April!" He immediately positioned his body so he was blocking what he was working on. Her curiosity was piqued. "What's up?"

"She tried to glance over his shoulder or around him with no luck, she couldn't make anything out. "Last time I checked your birthday party was still going on, and you're in here…"

He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry. I just had the sudden urge to work on something that I wanted to have finished by today."

"Uh huh." April tried to walk around Donnie to get a good look at his desk.

He blocked her path.

"Hey, um, what's that?" He pointed to the package in her hand, trying to distract her.

She immediately blushed. "Um…well actually…it's your Mutation Day present."

His eyes widened, and he looked confused. "I thought the games and game system was our present?"

"It was…this is part two." She held out the package, wrapped in purple and yellow striped paper.

He tentatively reached out and took it. "Did the others get a 'part two'?"

April blushed brighter. "…No."

This gift was actually something she had picked up weeks ago on a whim. It instantly reminded her of Donatello so she had to get it. She just didn't know when to give it to him. Saving it for Christmas was her plan, but she figured today was as good a day as any.

Donnie carefully unwrapped the small gift, and sucked in a breath when he saw what it was.

In his hands he held a dark purple leather bound lab journal. On the front his name was engraved in gold lettering.

"This is beautiful, April." He ran his hand over the leather cover, and cracked it open to flip through the blank pages, all just awaiting his brilliant ideas.

"Flip it over." April said.

He glanced at her, but did as she said to reveal the quote she had chosen to decorate the back.

**Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.  
-Albert Einstein**

She was given various options for the quote, but for some reason this one spoke to her the most. It reminded her of how the world should see Donatello, as a brilliant genius who has the unlimited potential to make the world a better place. But instead they would only see him how he is on the outside…and that was definitely not how it should be.

"Do you like it?" April asked, feeling a little nervous about her choice.

"Like it? I love it! It's perfect. Thank you so much, April."

She smiled, thrilled that he liked it as much as she thought he would. It had cost her a lot, but seeing him this happy definitely made it worth it.

Donnie stood up and made a move to approach her. She thought he was going to hug her, but he hesitated and turned back to his desk, like he had forgotten something.

"I actually have something for you, too." He said.

She laughed, confused. "Donnie, it's _your_ birthday. You're not supposed to give other people presents."

"I know, I know." He grabbed something and hid it in his hand. "But today not only celebrates the day of our mutation, or as Mikey would put it "A very important day in history," It also marks another momentous day."

Amused, she decided to play along. "Oh, yeah. What's that?"

He reached out and took her hand, dropping something small and metal into her palm. "One year ago today, is the day I-we met _you."_

April's breath hitched at his words. Had it really been a year since that night? It must have been.

_Boy does time fly when your life is in constant danger._

She looked down at the item in her hand and felt herself blush once again. It was a necklace. A very pretty necklace that Donnie had obviously made himself. It was silver, and the pendant at the end was in the shape of a familiar flower, the Hamato family crest.

The same symbol that decorated her tessen.

She flipped over the pendant and noticed what looked like wiring on the back. She looked at Donnie in question.

"That's what I wanted to finish. It's a tracking device."

She immediately opened her mouth to object.

"Don't freak out! It only works when you press the small button on the back. It's kind of like a panic button, so if you ever need me-us…we're just one button away."

He had obviously put a lot of thought into this and she was unbelievably touched. But it was just too much.

"Oh, Donnie. I can't accept this. It's Master Splinter's crest." She could feel her eyes tearing up at the sheer emotion attached to a gift like this.

"Don't be ridiculous. I asked Splinter, and he said he couldn't be more proud to have you bear the clan's symbol." Donnie folded her fingers around the necklace. "You are part of the family after all…"

Her eyes teared up again, and they threatened to fall this time.

April flung herself at Donnie, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him close. He tensed, surprised by her assault, but quickly relaxed, wrapping his arms around her middle.

"Does that mean you like it?" He whispered into her hair.

She raised herself on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. "I love it. Thank you, Donnie." She said as she pulled away.

He giggled hysterically like he usually did, but to his credit didn't faint or even pull away. Instead, he actually held her tighter, much to her surprise.

She glanced up into his eyes and saw a confidence there she hadn't see there very often. He was looking at her like she was the only thing that mattered, and in his arms, it was kind of easy for her to believe that.

Donnie's head began to dip towards hers, and she had the fleeting realization that he was about to kiss her.

Part of her mind was screaming for joy, but another part was in panic.

Did she want this? Was it the right time? Was this right?

_I don't really care._

Her eyes drifted closed as he got closer, sealing her decision.

"APRIL! DONNIE! IT'S TIME FOR CAKE!" Mikey's voice boomed through the lab.

Donnie let out a long sigh, she felt his breath on her face he was so close to her.

Then he abruptly released her.

"I guess we have to go get some cake." He said suddenly and breezed out of the lab.

She stared after him for the second time that night.

_Did that really just happen? Did I really just give him a green light and he WALKED AWAY?_

April was furious, and a little grateful, but mostly furious. After all that... he just walks away.

Thinking about it more, she realized they were probably about to make a horrible mistake anyway. Talk about complicating things.

She just wasn't thinking clearly…

April needed cake...very badly.

She secured her new necklace around her neck, instantly feeling safer with it near, and headed out of the lab.

* * *

She found the guys gathered around the kitchen table, Master Splinter and Casey included.

Casey didn't look at her, and she didn't want to look at Donnie, so she went and stood between Leonardo and Master Splinter. Leo gave her an odd look, but moved over to give her some space.

Master Splinter carefully placed sixteen candles in the cake and lit them, lighting up the kitchen in an eerie glow.

Mikey was literally hopping in his spot he was so excited for cake.

"Now sing!" Mikey said.

Laughing, April led the charge, not really in the mood, but not wanting to ruin the celebration either.

Casey and Master Splinter eventually joined in on her version of "Happy Mutation Day!" They were a bit off key, but Mikey had never smiled so much.

Once they finished the song, all four turtles blew out the candles at once.

She couldn't help but wonder what Donnie had wished for...

April removed the candles and sliced up the cake on autopilot, her mind a whirlwind. Casey didn't say anything as he took his piece, which made her feel better and worse at the same time.

When Donnie took his he smiled at her and said "Thanks, April."

_I guess we're going to our old fallback of pretending nothing ever happened…great._

April cut herself a piece, but just pushed it around on her plate as the guys all laughed and joked around her.

She guessed her Mutation Day celebration was a great success, judging by the moods of everyone around her.

If only it hadn't made life for her so much more complicated.

Suddenly, a loud blaring alarm sounded through the lair, coming from the direction of Donnie's lab.

Donnie instantly was on his feet and running towards the lab, followed by his brothers.

"What is that, Donnie?" Leo asked, yelling over the volume of the alarm.

Donnie hit a few keys on his keyboard and the alarm was silenced making it so April could think again. "The Kraang communication orb was activated."

"Uh, oh. That's never a good thing." Mikey said.

_Understatement of the year._

"Woah, woah, what's going on!" Donnie cried.

April glanced at his laptop screen only to see it going crazy.

The picture was suddenly replaced with the image of a few Kraang droids in suits, flanking a young woman in a business suit. It took April a few moments to realize the woman was Karai, only with subdued makeup and no piercings.

This was business Karai... respectable Karai.

"What the heck is going on?" Donnie said, frantically typing to no avail.

Mikey ran out of the room only to return a few seconds later. "She's on the TV too!"

"The kraang must be brodcasting on all waves and networks and taking control of all screens. It's probably on cells phones too." Donnie explained.

April pulled out her T-phone to see the normal screen, but Casey's phone showed Karai.

"It's not on our network because the T-phones technically don't exist." Donnie answered her unasked question.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" Leo asked.

"They are probably waiting until they know all the connections are made." Donnie answered.

That's when Karai began to talk.

"Hello, New York. My name is Karen." Her voice was sickeningly sweet.

"Karen?" Raph spat out.

"Shhh!" Everyone shushed him.

"I am here to inform you about a very serious problem that plagues this city. You may not know it, or you may be one of the unlucky few that have had an encounter with strange things on the streets. Rumors have been going around regarding strange creatures, or even monsters, mutants. Let me be the one to tell you that these stories are all completely true. Mutants are infesting this city, endangering your homes, your children, your very lives. They are more numerous than you know, and more dangerous than you can even imagine.

I am second in command of an organization known as The Foot. We have single handedly taken it upon ourselves to fight this evil every night, and we ask for no recognition or gratitude for our actions. Unfortunately, we are losing the war and running low on manpower.

We are looking for volunteers to fight for us. We will arm you, train you, and prepare you to fight this war. If you are interested we will be in touch.

The only thing we ask of you, the citizens of the greatest city on the planet, is to stand up and fight for your lives against these hideous mutant monsters living all around you: in the skies, on the streets, and maybe even under you…in the sewers.

Fight for humanity, New York, and know that we stand with you."

Karai smirked at the camera and the screen went black, switching over to Donnie's normal screen.

Everyone just stood in silence, at a loss for what to say.

Dread went through April, and she broke out into a cold sweat.

She was afraid for her father, the turtles, and master Splinter. Karai had just not only informed the public of the existence of mutants, and made them out to be ruthless killers, but had basically told everyone where they lived.

That sewer comment was obviously aimed at the turtles.

_What could they possibly have to gain from this plan? Why are the Kraang helping with this?_

Most of this didn't make sense to April, and the others were all obviously confused by the plan as well, but April knew it would mean big trouble for everyone in this room.

When Donnie finally broke the silence, his voice was thick with worry. "I think Operation Clean Slate has just begun."

* * *

**A/N**

Woohoo! Main conflict has begun! And trust me the plan isn't supposed to make any sense at this point, it'll all be explained in time.

Stopping that kiss was one of the most painful things I have ever done BTW, so yeeeah. Just not the right time.

Next chapter will definitely be up by next week, and thank you for being patient with me...I promise a gap that large will not happen between chapters again.

Hope you all liked it, and look forward to hearing from you guys.


	10. Fallout

**A/N**

Hello! And a very happy Fourth of July to my fellow American readers! :)

As per the norm, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I have the fifth most reviewed Apritello story on fanfiction? WHA? and its only been up a month!

I Love you all!

So this chapter is a little different...sorta. It seemed short to me, but it really isn't. I think it just moves fast. Lots of talking, exposition, planning, blah blah blah, fluffiness galore!, and oh the emotions! So many emotions! (In case you couldn't tell, I REALLY like this one.)

It's super simple, not much happens, but I don't know... I just love it.

Judge for yourselves.

ENJOY!

* * *

The lair was in complete chaos.

In the hour since Karai's mysterious broadcast, the moods of everyone had spiked and then plummeted dramatically. April had watched everyone go through shock, confusion, then anger, then battle planning mode, and now they all just seemed to be at a loss for how to proceed.

Leonardo, Raphael, and Master Splinter were off in the kitchen having a heated argument about something. She couldn't make out the words, but Raph and Leo's raised voices could be heard from the main room. Whatever the disagreement was about, it had to be important if it meant the brothers raising their voices to their sensei. They had been in there yelling like that since right after the broadcast, right after Donnie announced he was going to try and trace the signal back to the broadcast location.

April looked towards the tech savvy turtle, not surprised to see him diligently typing away on his laptop. To the untrained eye he just seemed to be doing some work, like browsing the internet or typing a paper… but April knew better. By the way his tongue had escaped the corner of his mouth, and the small crease in his brow, it was obvious to her Donnie was concerned and very frustrated.

He wasn't getting the results he was hoping for. April didn't think they'd be getting anywhere with his trace efforts.

The fourth turtle was planted firmly in front of the television; the most focused April had ever seen him. Mikey was scanning all the channels and news stations for any news or developments about the broadcast. Seeing the lost look on his little brother's face, Donnie had given him the task right before he had begun his own.

April had to agree with the idea, it would be important to see how the surface world was dealing with Karai's revelations.

Because of this, Casey had almost immediately volunteered to go topside to scope out the damage and to do a little digging of his own. April hadn't offered to go with him. She couldn't imagine abandoning the turtles at a time like this.

_Not that he had asked me to come anyway…_

She was beginning to wish she had gone with Casey though. She felt pretty useless sitting on the couch amongst the sea of balloons and forgotten cake plates.

Glancing around at all her hard work and decorations, she couldn't help but feel a little sad about how the night had turned out. All she wanted was for the guys to have one night of fun. No crises, no battles, no saving the world. Just a normal night of hanging out with friends.

Like normal teenagers.

April shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the selfish thoughts. There were more important things to worry about right now.

The only problem was she had no idea _how_ to help. She couldn't help Donnie because she had left her laptop at home.

Not that she had any idea how to help him anyway, even if she did have it.

And the others all seemed busy enough without her interference. So she just sat there, waiting and thinking about the broadcast and what it meant.

After Karai had cut out, and Donnie and April had agreed to this being "Operation Clean Slate," a whole lot of questions had followed. The biggest, of course, being: What was the end goal of this?

Master Splinter had theorized that the Shredder was attempting to turn the humans against them. Making the very people they were trying to protect every night their enemies.

To April, it seemed like one of the cruelest things someone could do to the Hamato family. They were all already self conscious enough about how humans would see them, and painting them as monsters to the general public was just downright heartless.

They had only been able to piece together little bits of the plan. This was obviously what the shipment of broadcasting equipment was for, and as for the shipments of guns…April assumed the "we will arm you" summed that up nicely.

The very thought of throwing guns into the hands of random New York City citizens made April shudder.

The streets were about to get a whole lot more dangerous.

The one thing that none of them seemed to be able to figure out, Donnie and Master Splinter included, was what the Kraang had to gain from any of this.

The Foot got man power, political power, and public support. Shredder would even get a chance for his revenge against Splinter. He was probably hoping that the citizens would hunt down and destroy the turtles for him.

But what did the Kraang get?

The only thing Donnie had come up with was possibly their defeat. The turtles had, after all, thwarted a lot of their plans, and April was sure they wanted some sort of revenge. But wasn't revealing the mutants counterproductive if their goal was to mutate the whole world?

All of this thinking was making April's head hurt…

None of this seemed to make any sense.

Frustrated, she got up from the couch and did the only thing she could think of, hoping it would distract her.

She began to clean up.

Dishes and cups piled high in her arms; she made her way towards the kitchen. A she approached, the voice of Raph became clearer.

"There is no way in hell I am leaving because of some stupid TV broadcast!" He yelled.

"Raphael, you will do what is best for this family." Splinter's voice was calm, but April could sense the worry hidden underneath.

"I don't know, Sensei." Leo said. "Maybe Raph is right. This is pretty hasty."

April began to wonder if she should go into the kitchen and interrupt them. Whatever they were discussing seemed to have Raphael riled up, so it must be important, especially if Leo was second guessing Splinter about it. She had never heard him blatantly disagree with his sensei before.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she paused outside the kitchen entrance, and listened for a few more seconds.

"Most people won't even believe Karai. It'll be played off as a dumb hoax and forgotten about in a week." Raph said.

"The Foot clan does not need "most people" to believe them. They only need a small number. Of that small number only a few will take action, but a few is far too many in a city of 8 million, my sons." Splinter's voice dropped a few decibels. "Our home is no longer safe."

April tried to stifle her gasp. Her mind racing, a strange sense of panic began to consume her. They were discussing abandoning the lair! They couldn't be. The turtles couldn't leave. Where would they go?

_They can't leave me!_

"It is impolite to eavesdrop, April." Master Splinter's voice rang out into the hallway.

Busted.

April moved into the kitchen entrance, keeping her gaze cast down to the floor. "I'm sorry, Sensei."

She quickly made her way over to the sink and dumped the plates and cups unceremoniously in, the clatter seeming to echo throughout the quiet space, making her wince.

April could feel three sets of eyes boring a hole in her back. They were obviously waiting for her to voice her opinion on the matter. She had no idea what to tell them though. It didn't seem like her place to beg them to stay, or tell them to leave. What was best for the safety of the family was a mystery to her.

All she knew was that she didn't _want_ them to leave.

Spinning quickly to face the trio, April decided to be honest. "You can't abandon the lair because of something like this."

"At least someone around here is speaking my language." Raph muttered.

"The lair has been compromised. Karai has set the public on searching the sewers for mutants. Even if they never find us, our home is no longer the secret haven it used to be. People will come." Splinter said sadly.

"We don't know that, Sensei." Leo said half heartedly. He was obviously against the idea, but didn't know how to convince Splinter.

"Leo's right." April said. "People may not even take this seriously. Before you take drastic measures like leaving your home, you should at least wait until you know what's going on the surface. I think you're well hidden enough down here for at least a little while. Even if people do start searching, they won't find this place easily."

Splinter looked her in the eyes. "Can you guarantee that, April? Can you promise me people will not come down here looking to harm my family? That they will never find our sanctuary? That they won't shoot us on sight?"

She was taken by surprise by her Master's tone. He sounded tired, scared, and frustrated all at the same time. It was also extremely rare for him to be this blunt.

"No. I can't promise that." April answered honestly. There would always be people who would not only never accept the turtles, but would never even give them a chance. Human nature would make them see her best friends and adopted family as nothing but monsters, especially fueled by the Foot Clan's new propaganda.

Splinter nodded once, satisfied with her honestly.

Raph crossed his arms over his chest and huffed loudly. "You all do what you want. I'm not leaving. I am not going to let a bunch of humans chase me out of our home." With his declaration made, Raph stomped out of the kitchen.

A loud sigh escaped Splinter and he seemed to slump over the table. He was obviously nearing the end of his rope.

April reached out and captured the rat master's hand in her own, giving it a reassuring squeeze as she glanced at Leonardo. "I know you're both just worried about your family, and trust me I'm worried about you all so much it hurts… but no good ever came of such hasty decisions. Just wait it out a bit longer and see what happens. Maybe Donnie can figure something out and end their transmissions or something..."

Splinter squeezed her hand back once. "For someone so young you hold much wisdom." He looked over towards Leonardo. "Do you share Miss O'Neil's thoughts, Leonardo?"

The turtle looked startled to have suddenly been brought into the conversation. "Um…" He flicked his gaze over to April, and she gave him a slight nod of her head.

"Yes, Sensei." He said finally. "I believe you may be right about the lair being compromised, but I also think it's far too early for such drastic measures."

"Very, well. We shall stay… for now." Splinter got up and started out of the kitchen. "If there are any developments… I will be meditating."

Once they were alone in the kitchen, Leo and April exchanged a long look. They didn't speak, but both knew what the other was thinking.

They were both hoping that they had pushed Splinter to make the _right _decision, and not just a selfish one. Unfortunately only time would be able to give them an answer.

* * *

Like a force of nature, Donatello burst into the kitchen, interrupting the teens worry session.

"Guys!" He practically yelled. "You need to come see this!"

Leo and April jumped to their feet and followed the obviously frantic Donnie back to his lab, where he immediately brought a couple different screens up on the monitors.

The first April recognized instantly as her message board that she had set up to monitor weird activity around the city months ago. It had been pretty inactive lately, and to be perfectly honest, April had kind of forgotten about it with everything else that had been going on.

Donnie pointed to her message board and began to speak. "Since Karai's broadcast I've been monitoring the most popular message boards and general online news in order to get a feel for the surfaces reaction."

Leo and April nodded their understanding, so Donnie continued. "Well, it's only been about two hours, and the internet had practically exploded! Everyone is talking about the broadcast, the Foot clan, and mutants. To make matters worse, people who have witnessed mutant activity in the past are coming out of the woodwork. People keep posting videos and pictures, basically providing proof to Karai's claim. They are posting faster than I can delete them."

April didn't like the sound of any of this. "So what's the good news?" She said sarcastically.

"Well, as Mikey would say…we're famous."

Leo ran a hand over his face, frustrated. "I'm assuming that "proof" you spoke of involves us?"

"Oh yeah. Mostly us. We haven't been as stealthy as we thought we were being." Donnie clicked a few times and brought up a bunch of different windows, most of them pictures.

April gasped at what she saw. It was at least a dozen pictures of the turtles. Most seemed to have been captured with cell phone cameras, and were pretty fuzzy, but it was obviously them. There were shots of them standing in alleyways, on rooftops, a remarkable clear picture of Leo facing off with a foot bot, and the most worrisome, numerous pictures of them lifting a manhole cover and disappearing down into the sewer.

"Why are these just coming out now?"

"That's the weird part. At first I just assumed people would have just thought they were crazy, and were keeping them to themselves, but when I started to do more digging, most of these all came from the same IP address. My theory is that The Foot are actually the ones posting these, making the whole broadcast more credible." Donnie explained. "And that's not even the worst part."

He clicked open another window, this one a video, and hit play. A grainy video of what April knew was the turtles fighting a group of foot soldiers began to play. It was only about forty seconds long, but it was perfect in not only showing the turtles fighting skills and capabilities, but it also made them look like the aggressors. To the untrained eye, the foot soldiers looked like the innocent party.

Someone was definitely trying to turn the turtles into public enemy number one.

"Can you get rid of this stuff, Don?" Leo asked.

"I've been trying. But once I remove something, something else gets put up right away. And people are starting to notice the stuff being taken down, calling it a government conspiracy. I think taking it all down might make it worse…"

April braced her arm on the back of Donnie's chair and leaned over him, closer to the screen, trying to read the comments at the bottom. What she could see was not reassuring. There were one or two praising the foot clan and the "good work" they were doing for the city. There were some questioning the validity, and claiming it all to be an elaborate hoax. But most seemed to be people outraged that these "mutant freaks" were running around their city.

These were the worst.

As she read, April felt her blood pressure rising as she got angrier and angrier. Let's just say the words "freak," "abomination," and "monster" were used way too many times for her liking…

"Uh, April? Do you mind?" Donnie's voice snapped her out of her silent outrage.

"Huh?" She asked, confused.

Donnie looked down pointedly at his bicep, where April currently had a death grip on him. She didn't even remember moving her hand from the back of his chair.

Embarassed, she instantly released him, only to see the perfect indentations of her fingers left behind in his green skin.

"Oh my gosh! Donnie I'm sorry!" She started to rub the area gently, an embarrassed blush covering her freckled cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me to let go sooner?!"

"I-it's fine. And I did, you were just too focused on the screen." He chuckled and looked down to her hand, still lightly massaging his abused muscle. "See, you made it all better anyway."

He smiled brightly at her, and looking into his eyes, April didn't understand how anyone could see this sweet, brilliant, caring soul as anything but. Donnie was no monster, and neither were his brothers. The Shredder and the Kraang were the real monsters.

She would love to track down every last person who had posted on that message board, and show them how much of a monster she could be.

April subconsciously reached up with her free hand and grasped her new necklace, taking some comfort from its slight weight around her neck. Donnie's eyes followed her movement; his grin getting a fraction wider.

Her mind was instantly pulled back to their almost kiss; which she realized happened only a few feet away from where they were.

"Did you have any luck tracing the transmission signal?" Leo's voice cut through the tension like a knife.

April had completely forgotten Leo was there, even though he was only two feet away. Instantly, she removed her hand from Donnie and took a big step to the side, crossing her arms protectively over her chest.

This was neither the time, nor the situation to even be thinking about her messed up relationship status. They were trying to work their way through a crisis, and the thought foremost in her mind was almost kissing Donnie?

_What is wrong with me?_

The turtle in blue had a tiny smirk plastered on his face, leading April to believe he had witnessed everything and knew perfectly well that he had just interrupted a moment.

She really wanted to punch him.

Donnie gave her one last lingering look, which she really tried to ignore, before turning to his older brother. "Maybe. The signal was incredibly complex. Obviously enhanced with Kraang tech, so I really don't know what I'm up against. It was bounced off multiple locations, but I think I have a primary starting point. I can't guarantee it though. It's all the way across town. Even with the Shellraiser we wouldn't be able to get there and back before dawn."

"First thing tomorrow then. I think it's best if we stay below tonight anyway." Leo motioned to the monitors. "We wouldn't want to add anymore fuel to the fire. Good work, Donnie." He clasped his brother's shoulder in an affectionate way.

Donnie shrugged. "Eh, it's my thing."

April watched the exchange with amusement. Donnie obviously didn't realize how lost his brothers would be without him. He and his glorious brain was what made the team work like a well oiled machine.

"April, shouldn't you be getting home?" Donnie asked suddenly. "It's getting late…"

"Yeah, probably." She sighed. "My aunt will kill me if I come home too late."

Donnie was instantly on his feet, and strapping on his bo staff. "I'll walk you."

April's first instinct was to decline Donnie's offer. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck alone with him, especially after the awkward, complicated night they had just been through.

Luckily, Leo beat her to it. "I don't think leaving the lair is a good idea, Don."

"Relax. I won't go topside, just through the sewers and back. I'll be gone fifteen minutes tops."

Leo looked unconvinced, but wasn't willing to argue. "Fine, but keep your T-phone on you."

"Of course." Donnie said. "Ready, April?"

_As ready as I'll ever be…_

She plastered a smile on her face and nodded. "Yeah, let me just grab my stuff."

* * *

Luckily, April had a lot less stuff to bring back up with her than she had to bring down. Double luckily, she had Donnie to do most of the heavy lifting for her. When they finally left the lair, he was weighed down with two shopping bags filled with decorating supplies, a helium tank, and the case with all the paintball gear. She had nothing more than her backpack which held her paint covered clothes. Donnie wouldn't let her carry anything else, much to her annoyance.

It didn't look like Donnie was even struggling with his cargo, despite the fact it had taken her three trips to bring that much down to the lair.

_Ninjas and their stupid strength._

As they walked through the sewers, Donnie leading the way, April a few paces behind, neither spoke. It was just as awkward as April feared it would wind up being. She had no idea what to say to the turtle, which was utterly ridiculous.

This was Donnie! Her best friend. She had never had a hard time talking to him in the past.

For some reason, though, things seemed different now. With her realization about her possibly, _maybe_ having feelings for him, and their moment in the lab, it seemed like their relationship had shifted. Like this weird tension that had always been buried deep down inside was suddenly out in the open for them to have to wade through…for all to see. Making matters even worse was her complete confusion on the issue. She literally had no idea what she wanted or how she felt, or what Donnie's thoughts on the whole thing were…

Peeking up at the turtle in question, she was met with a view of his shell as he walked just a few feet in front of her.

April had always been fascinated by all the turtle's shells, the intricate swirls and designs, unique to each one. Unsurprisingly, she had always found Donnie's the most interesting, and most beautiful. She had spent many secret moments admiring it while he wasn't looking, memorizing the pattern.

This time, however, something else about it caught her attention, something she had never really noticed before. His shell was covered in scratches and chips, marring the design, but somehow perfecting it at the same time. April couldn't help but think about all the times that shell had saved his life, taking the brunt of a blow meant for softer more vulnerable flesh. For this one reason alone, it would always be her favorite feature of his.

Acting on its own accord, April's hand reached out and traced one of the nastier looking gouges, right over his left shoulder.

Donatello stopped walking instantly, sending April careening face first into his shell with a resounding thud.

Pain shot through her nose as she fought to maintain her balance. The last thing she wanted was to end up on her butt in the sewer. "Ow!" She stepped back and rubbed her injured nose. "A little warning would be nice next time, Donnie!"

"Sorry!" He spun on her, hands held up in surrender, red tinting his cheeks. "You just surprised me…I-I wasn't expecting t-that."

April dropped her hand, checking it for blood, sighing with relief when she realized her nose wasn't broken.

"What? You mean when I touched your shell? You could feel that?"

He scratched the back of his head, obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable. "W-w-well yeah."

"I didn't know turtles could feel their shells like that." She said fascinated, ignoring Donnie's discomfort.

_He did almost break my nose. I think I'm entitled to a little curiosity._

"Most can't, at least not in the same way. Normal turtles feel it like a finger nail, just pressure, we get true feeling. My theory is when we mutated some of the spinal nervous system attached to the shell, so we get slightly dulled sensation, but thankfully not pain."

April let out a small sigh of relief. She couldn't imagine how much pain would have been involved with all the damage his shell had taken over the years. "That's good. With some of your battle scars back there, I wouldn't want to feel pain either."

"There are scars?" Donnie asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"You didn't know?"

He gave her a look. "I can't exactly see my own shell, April."

She laughed a little, embarrassed by her own stupidity. "Yeah I guess you have a point there…but yeah, you have some damage. Nothing major, just some scratches and one gouge."

She was just glad they were talking, and about something so innocent as well. This felt normal for them.

"Really?"

April laughed as Donnie stretched his neck trying to see his own back, ending up spinning in small circles, bags and all, before realizing it was a futile effort.

_He's just too cute sometimes._

Giving out a loud huff of frustration, Donnie slumped his shoulders and looked at her. "Does it look bad?"

April's jaw fell open before a sudden giggle fit fell over her. Out of all the things she imagined him asking, that was not one of them. Donnie, a mutant turtle, was wondering if his shell scars looked bad?

Something about that was just incredibly funny.

"Come on it's not funny! I'm serious."

April tried to catch her breath. "I know… and that's why it's so funny!" She gasped out.

Not being able to take it anymore, she turned and began walking again, knowing he would follow. After taking a moment to compose herself, she glanced behind her at her escort. Only to realize he looked like a kicked puppy…all droopy eyes and pouty.

April couldn't leave him like that.

"You know, Donnie, girls love a guy with scars…" She said bravely, letting him take her statement anyway he wished.

His head shot up, and he took a few breaths to process it completely before one corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smirk.

"Is that so?"

April turned away, looking straight ahead into the tunnels. "Yup, they make a guy seem cool, tough, and mysterious. Loads of girls think they're attractive."

After a few moments she could have swore she heard him mumble something under his breath. She could have sworn it sounded like "I only care what one girl thinks." A small thrill went through her stomach, and she felt herself blush, but she couldn't be sure that's what he said.

And even if it was, she chose to ignore it…the night was eventful enough without reopening that can of worms.

"So are you guys going to check out the broadcast site tomorrow night?" She tried to change the subject, feeling the awkwardness beginning to creep in again.

"Hopefully." Donnie answered quietly. "And hopefully we can shut it down before they can do another one and do anymore damage. Not that they haven't done enough as it is…"

April slowed her pace so she was walking at his side. "What do you think their end goal is, Donnie?"

"I don't know."

"Yeeeah…but I _know _you have theories." She teased.

The turtle sighed and cut his eyes over to her. "I'm thinking that they may be attempting to get the public to get rid of all the mutants for them." He answered simply.

"But why?" April asked, shocked. "The foot has a bunch of mutants working for them, and the Kraang's whole goal is to mutate everything…just…why?"

"Mostly I think it has to do with us." He said, switching over to his "explaining stuff" voice. "We have thwarted so many of their plans, messed up so much of their stuff, mutated things that shouldn't be mutated, turned their own mutants against them. I think they want to get rid of us and everything we've done, and start over… start with a clean slate."

Fear shot through April at the notion. Not only for the turtles, but for her father. He wasn't in his right mind, flying around out in the open. He was basically a sitting duck up there.

"Oh, Donnie," she said stopping suddenly, "What about my dad?"

She heard the sound of the bags Donnie carried being dropped to the ground before she felt his big hands on her shoulders, turning her gently to face him. "I promise, April, on my very life, that I will cure your father as soon as possible, no matter what it takes."

Searching his face, she saw nothing but sincerity, reminding her of a very similar promise he had once made to her on a rooftop. He had kept that promise, and she trusted him to keep this one as well.

But there was one problem.

She brought her hand up and cupped his cheek gently. "Not on your life. Never swear on your life… promise me that."

She practically whispered her plea, but by the way his eyes widened she knew he heard her. First he looked surprised, and then conflicted. He was used to grand declarations of self sacrifice, not promising to hold back.

"I promise." He finally said simply, giving her shoulders a little squeeze.

April dropped her hand to his forearm, and gave him a sad smile. "Good, because I want my dad back more than anything. But if it meant losing you…I don't know if…"

She was silenced suddenly by Donnie's hand over her mouth as he dragged her roughly against his body and moved swiftly and silently into the shadows. He moved so fast, she was afraid she had whiplash.

April, enraged by being interrupted when she was about to say something extremely emotional, resisted the petty urge to bite Donnie's hand, still firmly placed over her mouth. Some sense returning to her, she glanced up at him and noticed he was in full ninja stealth mode, his body was solid tense muscle against hers, poised for battle. He only got like this when he was extremely serious, and when danger was imminent.

Closing her eyes and extending her senses, April realized they weren't alone anymore. She could sense strange presences moving throughout the tunnels. Now that she was aware of it, she could hear the distant echoing of boots in the water and on the stone walkways close by.

Reaching up, she tapped Donnie's shoulder to let him know she understood the situation. Almost instantly he released her mouth, but kept his other arm wrapped firmly around her middle, holding her against him.

He gracefully unsheathed his staff, and waited.

And they waited.

And waited.

The entire time, the footsteps seemed to be getting closer. They would fade momentarily, then return even closer than before, and the cycle would repeat itself.

Donnie's patience was astounding. April was starting to get fidgety, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was almost too afraid to breathe, she may have complained…

After what seemed like an eternity, voices could be heard echoing down an adjacent tunnel. The one that April and Donnie themselves would have been walking through if they had continued. They were still too distant to make out words, but the voices were definitely male, and there seemed to be a lot of them.

The arm wrapped around her tightened to the point where she could barely breathe, as Donnie pulled them deeper into the pitch black drainage pipe.

April could hear the roaring of her own blood in her own head, it sounded deafening. She tried to take comfort in the proximity of him, knowing this was one of the safest places she could be, surrounded by the scent of oil, leather, and a hint of sweat. The unmistakable scent of Donnie. In an attempt to calm herself down, she placed her ear against his plastron and listened to the steady beating of his heart, counting the beats slowly, unable to do anything else but wait in her current position.

Within moments she could make out some conversation from the strangers.

"…Stupid idea…"

"…believe you talked us into this…"

"Mutant lizards…."

"…Gonna be millionaires…"

It seemed like there had to be at least six or seven of them, and they were extremely loud. Definitely not kraang, or the Foot. They sounded like plain ordinary humans.

Soon the voices sounded like they were mere feet away. Crushed up against Donnie as she was, April couldn't see them, but she knew Donnie was watching them like a hawk.

And she could certainly hear them.

"I think we've been down this tunnel already." He sounded young, maybe in his twenties.

"How can you tell? They all look the same."

"I don't know, it just feels like we've been here before."

"It feels like you're a dumbass, Scott."

"This whole thing is dumb. I just can't believe you convinced us to trudge around with you in the sewer, in the middle of the night, looking for monsters."

"Hey! I told you they were real! There are mutant lizard creatures down here. You heard the lady on the TV."

"I still think it was hoax."

"Well it wasn't. They're dangerous and I'm gonna be the first one to catch one."

Donnie tensed even more under, even thought she didn't think it possible, right before she heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being cocked.

"Imagine how much money they'd pay for the first body of a real mutant!"

April heard what sounded like a high five, and then they started to move away from them. She let out a deep breath, unaware she had been holding it the whole time.

It was a solid five minutes before Donnie began to relax and loosen his grip on her. The men seemed far off in the distance, but April didn't dare speak until Donnie did.

"You okay?" He finally asked.

"No." April said honestly. She was terrified. "Those guys were down here hunting you, Donnie!" She said frantically.

"I know." He said calmly.

"It's only been like three hours! How did this start so fast?"

"It's definitely faster than I would have thought…." Donnie seemed unconcerned, which only freaked her out more.

"How are you not freaking out over this!?"

He raised an eye ridge at her. "Seriously, April. We're ninjas. We can handle guys like that any day. We were ten feet from them and they had no idea. Not exactly a major threat."

"That shotgun was pretty threatening to me." She said quietly.

"Hey." He grabbed her hand and squeezed gently. "We'll be fine."

She reached up and gripped her necklace tight. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she was developing a new nervous habit.

"If enough people come down here wandering around like that, eventually they're going to find the lair…" She said sadly.

"I know…" Donnie answered, his voice almost defeated.

She squeezed his hand back. "The lair isn't safe anymore…is it?"

It took him a long time to answer, when he finally did, his voice was barely a whisper. "I don't think so."

April felt tears sting her eyes, threatening to fall.

In one tiny part of one night, their entire world had been turned upside down.

* * *

**A/N**

I don't know if Donnie came across as too cool, calm, and collected here, but I think in this situation he would be.

Hope you guys enjoyed the cuteness, and the obvious transitional chapter to my next big thing!

I'm working A LOT next week because of the holiday this week, so because I think next week's will be a big chapter, and involved, it might be a little late. NOT A LOT, just a smidgen. (might not even be that late)

Please review, thanks!

See you next week! :)


	11. Evacuation

**A/N**

I'm so sorry it's been so long! Read the note at the end for news and my full explanation...also an announcement!

Enjoy!

* * *

In the few days since the Foot's broadcast, mutant hysteria had spread through the city like wildfire. People claiming to have had mutant encounters were coming out of the woodwork with their stories, some of them even with some semblance of proof to back up their claims. As far as April could tell the general consensus was that the mutants were monsters, hell bent on devouring children and burning the city to the ground.

The whole situation made her feel sick to her stomach.

City officials, and even the federal government, had responded to the "mysterious broadcast" as was expected…with denial. They denied any existence of creatures known as mutants, and declared the entire thing as an elaborate hoax in a futile attempt to calm down the masses. Not surprisingly, their efforts didn't seem to make any difference.

Of course there were plenty of people who didn't believe Karai (or Karen, as everyone thought her name was), but there were more than a few who did, especially the young people. More than enough to cause trouble.

Leaning up against her locker, books pulled tightly to her chest, April could hear nothing but talk of monsters and the Foot around her. Almost none of it was anything she wanted to hear.

The turtles had basically become public enemy number one in record time thanks to the Foot. It seemed like every hour new evidence regarding the turtles sprouted up, all of it painting them as monsters terrorizing the city. The only thing they had going for them was that every new picture and video seemed to be getting worse and worse quality, making April believe the Foot had used all of their good material first thing, and were now scraping the bottom of the barrel. At this point most of the stuff popping up could either be a giant mutant turtle caught on camera, or Bigfoot.

Thinking of the turtles made a bolt of worry go through April. She hadn't seen them since Donnie had deposited her out of the sewer. She had fought with him about leaving, but ultimately he had won out by telling her they had planning to do, and she had to report back to them about the surface activity. She had unhappily agreed.

That had been three days ago.

Since then she had received strict orders from Donatello, Leonardo, and even Master Splinter to stay topside, all three claiming the sewers were no longer safe for her to visit.

As far as she knew they were still in the lair, despite the danger, making her worry about them constantly. If it wasn't for Donnie's occasional check in texts she didn't think she'd have been able to stay away for this long, just to make sure they were all still safe.

The bell warning students it was almost time for first period rang shrilly through the hall, causing the crowds of teens to scatter in different directions towards their respective classes.

Sighing, April pushed off of her locker and started heading towards her own classroom. She couldn't believe she was even in school. With everything going on it felt so wrong to be there acting as if life was completely normal. She felt like she should be out there doing something to help, being productive, but instead she was stuck inside, learning about trigonometry…and chemistry. Ugh.

April spotted Irma in the hall ahead of her, so she quickened her pace to catch up to her friend. Things were still a bit tense between them, but Irma was at least speaking to her again, and that was a plus. She really valued the friendship she had with Irma, and hated fighting with her. After all she was basically her only female friend.

Irma loved to talk about the mutant situation, and April had to agree that she was a great source of information regarding the current rumors and public opinion.

"Hey, Irma, wait up!" April called out, making the other girl stop.

Catching up, April smiled at her best girl friend, earning a small smile in return. "Hey, April."

"What's up?" April asked as they walked into the classroom, glad to get her mind off things for a few seconds.

"Same old uninteresting stuff." Irma said, taking her seat by the window as April took her own right next to it. "Did you hear about the mutant sighting over at the park? That's only like 3 blocks from here!"

April thought it was kind of funny how excited Irma got over the whole mutant thing. She had embraced the conspiracy in pure Irma fashion, by completely obsessing. She was even beginning to catalogue the different kinds of mutants based on the various reports.

"No, I haven't been keeping tabs on the rumors." April said, trying to come across as uninterested, but not rude.

"I think there's a lot more here than just rumors. The evidence it extremely thorough and convincing, especially for those reptilian terrapins that keep popping up. The whole thing is just fascinating."

_You don't know the half of it._

As the teacher began to speak and class began, April started to zone out. She found herself continuously checking her T-phone for updates from Donnie instead of paying attention. The last one had come the previous night, and it was completely unlike him to go that long without at least a "good morning." She knew she was probably just being paranoid, but she couldn't help feeling like there was something very wrong.

A sudden dull ache began in April's head, intensifying rapidly. She took a sharp intake of breath, and grabbed her forehead, trying to ease the unexpected throbbing.

"April?" Irma whispered. "Are you okay?"

April barely registered her voice, but somehow managed to give a slight nod. This was definitely one of her "feelings," what it was about though, she had no idea. Just as the pain was about to reach the excruciating level, it vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving April feeling drained and confused. She glanced around the classroom, trying to find something out of place, anything that would explain her episode or the uneasiness she was suddenly feeling.

The classroom erupted into a chorus of chirps, rings, and songs as every cell phone in the room began to go off simultaneously, making every student jump and rush to silence their phone.

The teacher looked around confused. 'What have I told you all about turning off your phones during class…" He stopped talking and reached into his pocket realizing his own phone was also going off.

April quickly checked her T-Phone, but it was silent.

"Hey, it's another broadcast!" A student across the room said excitedly, making the whole class burst into chatter.

April felt her heart constrict in her chest out of fear.

_Not another one._

Unable to see the video due to her T-phone's strange immunity to the broadcasts, April could only listen as Karai's voice filled the room, echoing oddly through the dozens of tiny cell phone speakers.

"Hello, New York. For those of you who are unaware, I am Karen of the Foot Organization. On behalf of myself and my superiors I would like to extend our gratitude for the support you, the great people of this city have given us. With all of your help we are finding it much easier to fight the mutant monsters invading our home.

Unfortunately, it had come to our attention that the government officials of New York, and even the United States, are claiming our mere revelation of the truth as nothing more than a hoax. In response to this we have proof to present to you all. We hope upon seeing what we have to offer, you will learn to accept the truth, no matter how horrifying it may seem."

April suddenly had a very bad feeling about where Karai was going with this.

"Yesterday, a small group of Foot soldiers managed to capture a mutant alive. We are holding it securely, and will present it to the public soon. This mutant is highly dangerous, was heavily armed, and seriously injured many of our brave soldiers before they were able to remove it from the streets."

Every word seemed to make April's heart beat faster and faster.

"The mutants vary considerably in appearances and abilities. Many of them will seem familiar to you all, as they are simply grotesque versions of common creatures. Make no mistake though, they are extremely dangerous. This one, for example, has taken the form of a giant turtle."

_No._

There was a loud crash as April stood up fast, forcing her chair to topple over behind her. Every head swiveled in her direction, but she didn't notice. Karai's voice faded into the background as the sound of her own breathing and heartbeat filled her head, her hand instantly going up to grip her necklace.

"April?" She could distantly make out Irma trying to get her attention. "April?"

_Giant turtle. Captured. Heavily armed._

_No._

Without thinking her feet began to move, practically sprinting out of the room, the questioning yell of her teacher registering in the back of her mind. But she didn't care.

She had to get to the guys. She had to make sure they were okay.

_Donnie._

She ran through the halls, not caring who or what got in her way, skidding around each corner until she found herself outside on the sidewalk, breathing hard.

Some semblance of reason returned to her, so she reached for T-phone to call the guys, only to realize she must have dropped it in the classroom on her way out or forgotten it on her desk. Going back for it completely out of the question, April ran as fast as she could to the nearest manhole cover.

She had to see the guys. She just had to.

* * *

Getting to the lair from the school was a much more complicated trek through the sewers than from her apartment.

In the past, April had always associated the sewers with safety and security, now it just seemed wrong. She found herself jumping at every sound, doubling back on her own movements, and extending out her senses every opportunity she got. She almost took a poor innocent rat out with her tessen at one point.

The entire time every possible scenario of what she would find at the lair was running through her head. Each one was worse than the previous. One horrible concept that kept repeating itself on a loop was her getting to the lair, only to find it deserted, the guys leaving behind no trace… leaving her alone.

When she finally began to get close to the lair, her nerves were basically shot from tension and concern.

So when an arm shot out of the darkness and pulled her roughly into a pitch black side tunnel, April didn't see it coming. Instantly she started struggling against her would be attacker as he pulled her in towards his body, putting all her strength into breaking the hold he had on her upper arm.

Her efforts didn't seem to have any effect.

Realization dawned on her quickly though, as she could make out three large fingers gripping her arm. She also felt the unmistakable hardness of a plastron on her back. A smile made it to her face as the tension eased from her body.

_Donnie…_

Her smile faded. No. This couldn't be Donnie. He didn't feel quite like Donnie, and the smell was all wrong. She didn't get the same sense of comfort she got from being this close to him either. Not to mention, he seemed much bulkier than the purple clad turtle.

That left one option.

"Raph?" April whispered into the darkness.

The grip on her arm loosened before he answered. "Shh."

She stayed quiet for a moment, trusting his instincts, until she felt Raph move, leading them both back out into the lighter tunnel. She guessed the coast was clear.

"What are you doing down here, April?" Raph started immediately. "Didn't the others tell you it wasn't a good idea? There are serious nut jobs running around!"

April ignored him, just extremely happy to see him. She didn't realize how very scared she was until she saw him. If he was here, acting normal like this, that meant the others were most likely also okay. A strange weight seemed to lift off her shoulders.

"Well? You going to answer me?"

In response, April merely stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him as best she could in a loose hug.

Raph instantly tensed up, arms out stretched as far away from her as possible, unsure how to react or where to put them. "A-April. W-wwhat? Umm…"

She giggled and stepped back quickly; strangely happy she was able to embarrass him so easily. "Sorry. I'm just really happy to see you. I thought…"

The light blush still on his face, Raphael looked at her like she had three heads. "Thought what?"

She shook her head. "It's a bit of a long story. I'd like to tell you all at once."

"Well then come on." Raph took out one of his sais and spun it lazily between his fingers as he began to walk. "I can't say Leo and Splinter will be too happy to see you though."

"Trust me, it's important."

"Whatever."

As they entered the lair, Raph called out in the direction of the lab. "Another false alarm, Donnie!"

"What?" Donnie voice called back. "Impossible! I've recalibrated it like fifty times. That could not have been another rat. The proximity alarm definitely detected something as big as a person this time."

"I didn't say it wasn't a person." Raph said, just as Donnie appeared in the doorway to the lab.

"Then how was it a false…" His voice cut off as he spotted April. "April! What are you doing here!?" He began to walk towards her, face covered in worry.

For the second time, April found herself ignoring the question. Seeing Donnie safe and healthy brought all her remaining worry rushing to the surface, tears of relief coming to her eyes. He was fine. He looked a little tired, but was otherwise perfectly fine.

Without warning, she ran at him, meeting him halfway. She had about half a second to register the look of shock on his face before she tackled him in a fierce hug. Unlike Raphael, Donnie immediately wrapped his arms around her, struggling to regain his balance from the force of her assault. Somehow he kept them both from ending up sprawled on the floor.

She buried her face in his neck, breathing in his scent, reassuring herself that he was in fact there, and not a prisoner of the Foot like her mind had kept imagining.

"Don't look at me, bro. She's been doing that." She heard Raph say, forcing a small smile to her face.

The rumble of Donnie's voice seemed to travel through her as he spoke. "April. What's wrong? What happened?" His voice was so gentle, she nearly broke down in tears.

She shook her head slightly, unwilling to let him go just yet. "I was so worried they had you…I thought I'd never see you guys again."

"Woah. Who had us? What are you talking about?" Donnie gently gripped her shoulders and pushed her away so he could look at her face. "Tell us what's going on."

She glanced at Raph, and then looked back into Donnie's eyes. "There was another broadcast…"

His eyes widened as he absorbed the news. "Raph…"

"Yeah, I'll go get the others."

Donnie led her over to the pit and sat her down on the couch, kneeling in front of her. "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it."

April looked into his worried eyes, and felt a little ashamed. Here she was having him take care of and worry about her once again, when he was the one being hunted and pushed out of his home. How did it always end up like this?

Composing herself the best she could, she reached out and gave his arm a small squeeze. "I'm fine. Just a little tired from rushing down here, and then having Raph scare the daylights out of me in the sewers."

He looked a little sheepish at that. "Sorry about that. You set off a few of the new perimeter motion detectors I have been setting up. They alert us when people get too close to the lair."

"Why are you guys still down here, Donnie? Staying down here is crazy…" She said gently.

"Where else are we going to go? This is where we spent the last sixteen years…"

"Staying here is going to get you all killed." She said simply, making his head snap up at her bluntness.

"I know." He mumbled. "I think the others..and maybe me…are scared of leaving, even Master Splinter."

Unsure how to respond, April just grabbed his hand, doing her best to provide some comfort in a difficult situation.

Donnie suddenly stood, still holding her hand, as his brothers and Splinter entered the room. The group gathered around April.

"April, I hear you have some news for us." Splinter said, nodding towards his newest pupil.

"Unfortunately, Sensei." She took a deep breath and told them all about Karai's newest broadcast, trying to remember the kunoichi's words as best as she could.

"How come we didn't get the broadcast here?" Leo asked when she finished talking.

Donnie, of course had an answer. "This one may have only been sent over the cell phone networks. The T-phones don't get those."

"So if they have a turtle mutant, and it's not any of us…then that means…" Mikey said.

"Slash." All four brothers said at once.

April wanted to smack herself. She had completely forgotten about Slash. Of course she had never met the turtle since his mutation from Spike, but Donnie and Casey had told her about him.

"We need to save him." Raph said matter of fact.

"Sure Raph, let's just stroll into Foot HQ and rescue your giant ex pet who has a bad habit of beating us senseless…that sounds smart." Leo said sarcastically.

Raph just glared at him.

"Did the broadcast say anything else, April?" Splinter asked, ignoring his bickering sons.

She began to squirm in her seat. "Um…I don't know. I kind of ran out of the class after the part about the turtle…"

All five mutants just stared at her, making her blush slightly. "What? I was worried! Okay?"

"Aww, April. We worry about you too." Mikey came out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around her in a sideways hug, making it hard to breathe, but still making her smile.

Donnie shoved him away roughly and took the spot next to her on the couch, giving her hand a light squeeze.

April was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that they had been holding hands the entire conversation, in front of his brothers, and Master Splinter. Her heart rate increased and she began to feel very nervous, noticing of every single movement and glance. Unsure how to take her hand back without hurting Donnie's feelings, and unwilling to do that, she just left it where it was. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't taking comfort in his presence.

"If I know the internet the way I think I do, I bet the broadcast is already online somewhere." Donnie said. "We could probably watch it with a simple Google search."

"Why don't you get on that then, Donnie?" Leo said.

Donnie hesitated, mouth hanging open, eyes darting from Leo, to April, to their hands, then to the lab, and back to Leo. Finally, he sighed and stood. "Fine."

He released her hand, fingers trailing over her palm as he stepped away. A small shiver travelled through her at his touch, which she hoped no one noticed.

"I'll be right back." He appeared to be addressing everyone, but April got sense that he was really only talking to her.

As Donnie left she tried not to look at the others, fearing they could somehow read her thoughts. She didn't know when she started to react to Donnie this way, but she didn't like it. Somehow, without her even realizing it, awkward, geeky, Donatello, had developed the ability to turn her into a puddle of mush. When had the tables turned?

"Have you heard from Casey?" Leo's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" It took her brain a moment to catch up. "Oh, no. Not since I was last here. It's not exactly weird for him to skip school though, and he hasn't been answering my texts. I just thought he was mad at me…"

"Why would he be mad?" Mikey asked.

Her face heated up at his question, remembering her dance with Donnie and Casey's reaction. That all seemed like such a long time ago. She hadn't meant to say that part out loud.

"Umm..well we kind of had a fight." She answered lamely.

"About what?"

Sensing her discomfort, Raph took pity. "About none of your business, Mikey!"

Mikey flinched expecting a slap to the back of his head. When one didn't come, he swiftly moved over to stand between Leo and Master Splinter, but keeping an eye on his hot-headed brother.

"We haven't heard from him either." Leo said. "I'm beginning to worry about him."

"Ehh don't be." Raph said, unconcerned. "Casey can take care of himself."

Donnie returned, laptop in hand, and took his place beside April once more. She felt her pulse quicken slightly at his proximity and cursed her own body.

_This is not the time for stupid teenage hormones._

She wiggled a little and put a few more inches of space between them, earning a glance and a frown from Donnie.

"Like I said, it's already all over the internet." Donnie clicked on a link and motioned for them all to gather around.

April sighed and leaned in closer, trying to ignore her sudden ridiculous urge to rest her head on his shoulder as he clicked play.

"Hello, New York…" Karai began with the same speech April had heard earlier.

She tried not to listen, for fear it would make her throw up the second time around. Instead she turned her attention to the skin on Donnie's hand. It was much more interesting; such a lovely shade of green, and remarkably soft. Considering they were technically reptiles, she was always surprised that they didn't have scales, but basically normal human skin, just green.

"Damn right we're dangerous, sister." Raph said, earning shushes from all his brothers.

"…of a giant turtle." April turned her attention back to the screen, as this was the last part she had heard the first time.

"This turtle mutant is merely one in a whole group of them. They are all extremely well armed and dangerous, and should be approached with extreme caution. Our intel has shown that they make their lair in the sewers. The delivery of any of these turtles would be rewarded handsomely…dead or alive. We urge the bravest of you to help us rid the city of these creatures. I assure you, this is no joke, or hoax, or publicity stunt.

Happy Hunting, New York."

April felt Donnie tense beside her. Silence dominated the room. She couldn't believe that the Shredder and Karai had basically just turned the entire populace on them in less than one paragraph. Now people thought there was a reward on their heads.

_Dead or alive._

Mikey's voice finally broke through the silence. "Leo? What do we do?"

Everyone turned in the leader's direction. He looked just as lost as the rest of them. "Sensei?" He said, looking towards the quiet rat for guidance.

Splinter looked at all the teenagers in the room sadly, coming to some sort of conclusion. "Donatello, when was this broadcast?"

Donnie looked at the timestamp under the video. "Almost two hours ago, Sensei."

Splinter nodded. "They have a two hour head start on us, my sons. We must evacuate our home as soon as possible."

In a display of absolute perfect timing, a barrage of alarms began to sound from Donnie's laptop and lab.

"The perimeter has been breached in at least three different places." He said in a slightly panicked voice after scanning the screen for a few seconds.

"We have trained for this. You all know your duty." Splinter said, and promptly disappeared towards the dojo.

Instantly, all four turtles were on their feet and in motion. Donnie towards the lab, Leo towards the turnstiles, and Mikey towards the bedrooms. April got up and made to follow Donnie, but was pulled back roughly by Raphael gripping her wrist.

She glanced back and gave him a questioning glance. "What gives, Raph? Let me go!" She pulled towards the lab again, to no avail.

"Sorry, April." Raph said. "This is the evac plan, and we all have our jobs. You're mine."

She raised her eyebrow at him, but stopped struggling.

"Good. Follow me." Raph turned and walked briskly towards the dojo.

With one last look towards the lab, April followed Raph. When she got into the dojo, she found him, loading a large duffle bag with numerous types of ninja gear and weapons. "Here, put this on." He threw a backpack at her, which she managed to snag, only to be thrown off balance by the sheer weight of the thing.

She shrugged into it, trying not to let the weight pull her backwards. Raph grabbed her wrist again and pulled her back towards the main room, practically running.

As Raph dropped a heavy duffel bag over by the tire swing, Donnie appeared at the lab entrance again.

"Raph!" He called out, getting his brother's attention.

He looked towards his brother and raised an eye ridge. "Yeah?"

"Just… be careful." Donnie said, looking at April.

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Don't you have a job to be doing, Donnie?"

With a lingering look, the purple clad turtle vanished back into the lab.

April couldn't help but think she had just witnessed an unspoken conversation between he brothers.

"Okay, April, ready?" Raph asked.

"Um… ready for what exactly?"

Raph smirked and looked pointedly at the water.

Realization dawned on her, and she cringed in horror. "Oh, no, no, no. NO. I am not swimming in sewer water."

Raphael chuckled. "I didn't take you as such a girly girl. And it's not sewer water anyway. It's just rain runoff. This is just as good as going for a swim in the Hudson."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well by this time, Leo would have sealed off the main subway entrance, so it's either this, or so through actual sewage. Your pick."

April glared at him.

"That's what I thought." Raph said smugly. "Just hold on tight, and take a deep breath."

He turned around and crouched allowing her to put her hands around his neck. Once she was securely in piggy back position, Raph stood, and approached the edge of the water. April was suddenly very nervous about this.

"Hey, Raph?" She asked, voice wavering. "How far of a swim is this?"

"A few minutes."

"Just a reminder…I can't hold my breath like a turtle, so…yeah, don't let me drown."

"Not making any promises."

Just then a loud bang echoed through the lair. It was the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. Fear shot through her, but before she could react, or even turn in the direction of the sound, Raph dove into the water.

April's first thought was that the water was _cold_, like freezing cold. Her second was that she hadn't gotten a chance to take a deep breath.

Raphael swam impressively, which shouldn't have been surprising considering he was a turtle. Even under the heavy weight of her and the two bags of weapons, he managed to swim quickly and fluidly. Despite this, it wasn't long before April felt her lungs burning, and desperately wished she knew how much further.

After what couldn't have been more than a single minute, but what felt like eternity, they broke the surface in what looked like a drainage pipe off the river.

"See that wasn't so bad."

April gasped for breath, inwardly cheering that she was still alive. "Remind me to look up alternative modes of travel next time…"

* * *

Within fifteen minutes April found herself on a nearby rooftop, dripping wet, freezing, with a very grumpy Raphael.

"Where the hell are they?" He growled, for probably the tenth time.

He had explained to her earlier that this was their meeting place for after the evacuation plan. Everyone theoretically was supposed to arrive within a half hour of starting the plan…which means everyone still had around ten minutes until they were late.

"I guess patience isn't your strong suit?" April deadpanned, receiving yet another Raphael glare aimed in her direction.

"That's more Leo and Donnie's thing…" He crossed his arms and sat on the roof, obviously worried about his brothers.

April had to admit she was worried too. She kept thinking about that gunshot earlier, and who it could have possibly been aimed at.

She rubbed her arms and shivered, anxious to get out of the wet clothes, but not willing to abandon the guys until she knew they were all safe and what their next move was. She began to pace, attempting to increase the circulation in her legs.

"So, what's up with you and Donnie?" Raph asked out of the blue, making her trip and nearly fall on her face.

"W-what do you mean?" She blurted too fast.

Raph gave her a look that seemed to say "really?" "Come on, I saw that hug back there."

She turned away from him quickly; face feeling like it was on fire.

_Well at least my face is warm._

"I don't know what you're talking about. I hugged you, too." She said defensively.

"Uh, huh, sure you did. And the hand holding…"

If it was possible, she got even redder. Anger overcoming the embarrassment, she spun on him. "Is this really the time for this?"

"Hey, we got nothing else to do." He smirked.

She huffed and crossed her arms again. "Nothing's going on, Raph."

"Listen, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. I don't care. All I wanted to say was that for basically a human you're not so bad…"

"Gee, thanks…I think." She interrupted.

He ignored her and continued. "And that none of us ever thought Donnie had a chance in hell with you. Maybe we were wrong…"

She opened her mouth to object, but he marched on.

"Deny it all you want, I really…_really_ don't care. I only know what I've been seeing. Just remember that as big of a nerd as he is, Donnie is still my brother, and he's a great guy. And if you tell him I said that I will personally make your life a nightmare."

April gaped at Raph. She had never seen this much emotion from him before, especially towards her. They had never been very close…and this display was surprising to say the least.

"Basically this all boils down to a simple fact, if you hurt him, or if you're just leading him on, I will not hesitate to retaliate. No one gets to hurt Donnie but me…you got that?"

Shocked by not only the subject, but the protectiveness in Raphael's voice, April was unable to do anything but nod dumbly at the turtle.

"Good."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before April finally decided to take a leap of faith.

"I'm not really sure what's going on… but I know I never want to hurt him." She said gently.

It took him a long time to respond. "Well, then maybe you should do some serious thinking about what you really want."

"What are we talking about?" MIkey's voice carried across the rooftop.

"Finally!" Raph said, obviously relieved by his brother's appearance.

Mikey carried four bags, each looked to be filled with blankets, pots, and various other necessities. He looked just as carefree as usual.

"Any sign of the others? April asked, starting to get worried.

"Not yet. I last saw Leo when he was moving the Shellraiser, but that's all I know." He looked April up and down. "Why are you all wet?"

"We had to swim out…"

Mikey pulled out one of the blankets and handed it to her, making him her new favorite person. "You're fantastic!" She cried, immediately wrapping herself in its dry warmth.

_Now if only I could get out of these clothes._

They stood in silence, all privately worrying over their missing group members.

Mikey sat down next to Raph and imitated his pose and facial expression. The comical scowl on Mikey's face making April laugh despite the situation. Raph glared at Mikey and changed his position, only for his younger brother to do the same.

April didn't think this game would last for a very long time before Mikey ended up getting hurt…

Fortunately, they were interrupted just as Raph was about to jump on Mikey by the arrival of Leo and Master Splinter. Leonardo carried nothing but his blades, and Splinter only seemed to have the picture of his family with him.

"Sorry we're late." Leo apologized. "We ran into some trouble considering it's broad daylight. We had to take a few alternate routes than usual."

He looked around at the group before him.

"Where's Donatello?" Splinter beat him to the question.

"Not here yet." Raph and Mikey both answered.

Leo and Splinter exchanged a worried glance, making April's heart sink. Her mind kept replaying the sound of the gunshot over and over. Now all she was seeing was Donnie on the receiving end of that bullet.

Even the thought was too much to bear.

"We will give Donatello more time until we take any measures. We must be patient." Splinter said, sitting on the roof and entering a meditation pose.

April lacked his resolve and patience. She resumed her pacing from earlier, and began to chew on her thumb nail. By her third circuit, the nail was jagged and damaged, but she hardly noticed.

Ten long minutes later, and fifty after the initial evacuation, Donatello finally arrived on the roof. He was dragging an enormous bag behind him, and looked utterly exhausted.

"Hey, guys. Am I late?" He seemed cheerful, but April could hear strain behind his voice, like he was in pain.

She ran to him.

Donnie outstretched his arms, expecting a hug, but she stopped short and just looked him over, inspecting him for injury. He awkwardly lowered his arms like she wouldn't notice his assumption.

That's when she noticed he was wearing one of his elbow pads slightly higher on his arm than usual. Grabbing the arm roughly, she pulled it towards her to get a closer look. He let out a sharp hiss of pain as she undid the pad.

It only took her a second to notice the blood on her fingers before the pad fell to the ground.

Just above his elbow was an angry open wound in the flesh of Donnie's arm. It didn't seem to be bleeding much anymore, but it was obviously causing him pain.

"Oh my god! What happened to you?" She cried.

By this time the others had gathered around and were inspecting the wound as well.

"It's nothing…" Donnie said, trying to push passed them all.

Splinter grabbed his arm roughly and halted his progress, making him sit still as his sensei looked him over.

"This is a bullet wound." Splinter said after moment.

Everyone gasped.

"It was only a graze. I'm fine. Some guys were coming up the south tunnel just as I was leaving and they got in a lucky shot." Donnie said. "Some hydrogen peroxide and gauze and I'll be good as new!" He smiled at April, obviously trying to reassure her.

For the countless time that day she wanted to vomit. Someone had shot at Donnie. A regular human…not a Kraang, not a ninja… just a regular person. They had shot at him and fully intended to kill him.

For no reason other than the fact that he looked different…and some lady on TV had told him to do it.

At that moment, for the very first time, April was ashamed to consider herself human.

"Are you alright?" Donnie asked. He reached out and smoothed a piece of her wet hair back into place. "You must be freezing."

She leaned into his touch, realizing the others had all dispersed to collect the various bags scattered around the roof.

They had a moment alone.

"I should be asking you if _you're _okay. You got _shot, _Donnie."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not! This whole thing is just so wrong. You shouldn't be treated this way! None of you should! How could they do this to you?" She started out yelling, but by the end it was basically a whisper.

She felt a single tear of frustration escape and trail down her cheek, it was all she would allow to escape.

Donnie reached out and secured the blanket around her tighter, basically putting her in a little cocoon. "It's just part of being us." He said simply.

"Well it isn't fair." She knew she sounded childish, but it was how she honestly felt.

"No, it is not fair." It was Master Splinter who responded. "I am sorry to interrupt, but we are trying to decide our next course of action. Since it is daylight, our options are somewhat limited. Miss O'Neil I was wondering if you had any ideas?"

April thought about it for a moment, trying to push her own feelings about the situation aside for the time being. She did know of one place…it wasn't perfect, and wouldn't last very long, but it would at least give them a day or two, maybe a few more.

"I think I know a place."

* * *

**A/N**

HI! I'm so so so sorry this took so long. In case you guys haven't figured this out, this story had evolved slightly from what it was originally supposed to be. I wasn't expecting the response I got or the positive feedback. It was just supposed to be a little fluffy piece and now it's kind of complicated and plot driven haha. Basically I got to the point where I didn't know exactly how to continue. I knew what I wanted to happen, but I hadn't organized it. The story got away from me... It is officially back on track now.

I'm also the kind of person who likes to sit down and write a whole chapter at once...and my chapters are _long_, so finding the time is difficult. I think from here on out my chapters might be a bit shorter so I can get them out more often.

Anyway, about this chapter...there was a lot of Raph, which was surprising. I enjoy his personality, so I really liked to write his take on the whole April/Donnie thing. And you all know he would be soooo protective of his little brother that it's ridiculous. Also, this chapter is the first step in an important realization and emotional step for April...so sorry if she came off as overly emotional, but there's a lot going on. I also set up a lot of small stuff that's going to be important later on, so...hope you all paid attention haha

As a great big thank you for all of your support and continued reading, I'm also releasing a special chapter soon. It will be very short, but I think a lot of you will LOOOOVE it. Annnnd that's all I'm saying about that. Just expect a surprise in the next few weeks. :)

Thank you all again! And thanks for being patient with me. Please review!

Oh and chapter 12 is already half way done so it won't be long until you get that...but no promises this time lol.


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